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A bionic eye sounds like a dream, but incredible advances in research and technology are putting this futuristic device within sight.

Associate Professor Penny Allen leads the bionic eye research at the Centre for Eye Research Australia, working closely with the Bionics Institute.

Her team has developed a next-generation bionic eye prototype that has given four blind patients a ‘sense of vision’ – flashes of light that allow them to detect edges, shapes and movement, helping them navigate the everyday world.

For the 2019 Gerard Crock Lecture, Associate Professor Allen presented Seeing the Future: The Bionic Eye and Beyond– a fascinating discussion of how this remarkable device offers hope for people with inherited retinal diseases, the most common cause of blindness in working-age people.

The Gerard Crock Lecture series honours the memory of renowned ophthalmologist, the late Professor Gerard Crock, inaugural Ringland Anderson Professor of Ophthalmology.