All Eyes On You

Hello Everyone!

I want to be as realistic with blogging as possible and let's face it I can barely post once per week let alone twice. So I'm going to change up my scheduling to once per week with new posts appearing on Fridays. I apologize if this inconveniences anyone but I'm pretty sure once I have my second child life is just going to get more hectic. I figure I may as well nip this in the bud now especially since it's all still very new.

I have not received any feedback on queries in the last week but I'm sure just my mentioning will anger the query gods and I will get my rejections soon! LOL! I'm taking it all in stride. I've decided to hold off on writing this month. I really want to focus on building my platform as a writer. And with my daughter, pregnancy, April challenge and everything else life has thrown at me I just don't have the time or energy to start a new novel. But don't despair I have been jotting down ideas as they come to me so I haven't stopped writing just slowed down some.

The April Platform Building Challenge from the My Name Is Not Bob Blogsite has us writing a blogpost today. So thank goodness for that at least I can stay on track for this Friday! The challenge is in day 19 and I am behind on days 15 & 18 mostly because I haven't been feeling that well due to allergies & my pregnancy.

I went to the doctor on Tuesday and everything is progressing well. I am in week 37 (or 34) as of today! That means baby is full term and I will deliver soon (hopefully)!

Since I have been slacking in the science department the last few posts I am making a point to add it in to this blog...

A bionic eye? That's what they're calling it. That's right! Look out 6 million Dollar man, we're on our way!

The Monash Vision Group in Australia is a multi-disciplinary group made up of computer scientists, engineers and medical researchers. The group has mounted a camera on a pair of glasses. The camera can view images and send them to a chip that is surgically implanted in the brain. The chip has 650 electrodes as thin as a human hair. At this point the eye will produce low resolution black and white images. Which is a stepping stone to the future of visual implants.

This type of device is targeted at people who once had normal vision but because of disease (retinitis pigmentosa or macular degeneration) or trauma to the eye can no longer see. These people are the focus (no pun intended) because they were able to see at one point in their lives and therefore it's easier to get feedback on what they can see using the device. Based on this research, future devices may be able to help people who were born blind as well as for other brain impairments.

There are other researchers out there that are trying a different method of stimulating the eye using chemical drug delivery. That is when an implant that contains drugs will release the drugs over time to stimulate the receptors of the eye allowing the person to see. This research is very important as its success will make possible implantable chemical drug delivery devices for neurological diseases such as multiple sclerosis, Parkinson's disease, Alzheimer's just to name a few.

This research is near and dear to me as it was the focus of my graduate research work. I tested new and classic biomaterials for use in implants such as this one. The research is ground-breaking and the broad potential use, as you can see is very exciting.

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