Phosphoenix

Phosphoenix is a spin-off from the Netherlands Institute for Neuroscience; founded in 2019 based on groundbreaking results in the field of vision restoration.

Our mission is to restore vision for the blind by developing a neuroprosthesis, a brain implant, that bypasses the eyes and interfaces directly with the brain.

In the vast majority of cases when a person loses their sight the cause is a failure of the retina in the eyes or the optic nerve, while the areas in the brain that actually lead to visual perception remain intact, waiting for information that never comes.

This is exactly what we can tap into. We can bypass the eyes by collecting video footage with a camera, processing the footage in real-time, and feeding this information directly into the brain to restore a simple form of vision.

Our brain implant uses (18) high-density, ultra-flexible probes (each carrying +50 electrodes) – each thread thinner than a hair – to stimulate nerve cells in parts of the brain responsible for vision.

By activating specific combinations of electrodes, it generates recognizable shapes and patterns. It has been shown that around 500 – 1,000 phosphenes, which are artificially induced percepts of light, are needed for mobility – the key requirement for blind people.