Work in this laboratory is essential if we are to understand how vision actually occurs in the brain and how we might reproduce it. Retinal degenerations, glaucoma and eye traumas often produce such devastating eye damage that only a cortical prosthesis could restore vision.
Our lack of knowledge of the complex organization of visual cortex and our inability to reproduce patterns of signaling required by cortex have prevented such "synthetic vision" from becoming a reality. The Angelucci Laboratory is the Moran Eye Center's lead in developing this knowledge, making us unique among eye centers worldwide.