The sun isn’t supposed to help your vision, but for patients suffering from blindness, solar power may be the key to restored sight, according to Stanford researchers.

Ophthalmology Prof. Daniel Palanker, along with a team of researchers, has created a new artificial retinal implant that uses photovoltaic power to provide power to a chip implanted at the back of the eye. The discovery is particularly significant because previous implants had no way to send power to the chip in order to process light and data inside the eye.

Development of these new retinal implants used electronic retinal prostheses in order to restore sight to patients suffering from degenerative retinal diseases such as Retinitis Pigmentosa and Age-Related Macular Degeneration.

While normal vision may be out of reach for many patients, the implants could nonetheless offer dramatic vision improvements.

“We hope to be able to restore visual acuity up to the level of 20/100 because while 20/20 is normal vision, people with retinal degeneration may lose sight to the levels of 20/400 or below,” Palanker said.

According to neurobiology Prof. Stephen Baccus, a member of the research team behind the implant, the goal is to produce an electronic device that allows people to naturally perceive visual images, objects and motion.

Currently, the research team is studying how the retina processes visual information as a way to understand how neural circuits in the brain function.

“A natural use of this research is to construct an electronic device to replace part of the function of the retina in cases of retinal degeneration,” Baccus said.

Unlike similar methods, the Stanford system uses “real-time computer processing to transform visual images in a way that approximates the real neural code used by the retina,” Baccus added.

This particular research project also mirrors the well-known Stanford tradition of interdisciplinary collaboration.

“Due to [the] highly interdisciplinary nature of this project, our group includes specialists from four departments at Stanford: Ophthalmology, Hansen Experimental Physics Lab, Electrical Engineering and Neurobiology,” Palanker said.

Currently in the basic research state, Palanker’s team is using both in vitro methods and in vivo–using small animals–in order to better understand the implants. Further development, including the change from lab animals to humans, will depend on funding and perfecting the current method of research. The team aims to design systems that transmit visuals more naturally.

“By making the electronic stimulation as natural as possible, we hope that learning process will be easier,” Baccus said.