ERC Support to TÜBA GEBIP Member Assoc. Prof. Nizamoğlu
Assoc. Prof. Sedat Nizamoğlu, who is TÜBA GEBİP Member and Koç University Electrical and Electronics Engineering Department was awarded the European Research Council (ERC) Consolidator Support with "Retina Network Optoelectronics"
The total support fund of 2 million Euros was given for the development of new retinal implants within the scope of the project carried out by Nizamoğlu. Flexible, biocompatible, and reliable implants to be developed by Nizamoğlu aim to offer high visual acuity and wide field of view against visual impairment. Although the methods and strategies such as drug injections, stem cells, optogenetics, gene therapy applied to prevent the degeneration of photoreceptors and loss of photoreceptor cells, which are the most important causes of visual impairment, are promising, they unfortunately have important limitations at the moment. Other alternative approaches developed instead are not in production due to various production difficulties and quality constraints. Therefore, there is an urgent need for photodiode-based retinal implants for large-area and high-resolution retinal implants that can operate at the same time with high efficiency, are flexible, and can be fabricated using a solution-based fabrication technique. Sedat Nizamoğlu and his team will combine nanomaterials and unconventional electronic approaches to develop new retinal implants, which they call “retinal network optoelectronics”.