14 DAY TRIAL // 3D-printing technologies have come a long way in recent years, and we're not just talking about the use of 3D printers to make mugs, machine parts and whatnot.
On the contrary, body parts such as blood vessels, ears and even kidneys have also been engineered in laboratory conditions with the help of 3D printers designed to arrange cells in specific patterns.
Motivated by the success of these experiments, an Italian startup dubbed MHOX is now working on developing bioprinted synthetic eyeballs that could replace people's nature-made ones.
The eyes would give us superhuman vision
Unlike the majority of the body parts that have so far been recreated in the lab by means of bioprinting technologies, human eyes are astoundingly complex organs. For this very simple reason, scientists are yet to 3D print a pair.
Even so, researchers working with MHOX expect that they will eventually figure out a way to use a bioprinter to arrange cells in specific patterns and thus create fully-functional synthetic eyes.
As explained by lead designer Filippo Nassetti, MHOX's Enhance Your Eye (EYE) concept imagines the development of three distinct types of synthetic eyeballs: Heal, Enhance, and Advance.
Of these eyeballs engineered with the help of state-of-the-art bioprinting technologies, the ones labeled as Heal would work just like the real deal and could serve as replacements for eyes damaged either by disease or some injury.
Enhance and Advance synthetic eyeballs, on the other hand, would make seeing a tad more entertaining by allowing people to add filters such as vintage or black and white to their vision, even snap pictures or record various events.
“EYE Enhance sharpens sight up to 15/10, thanks to its hyper-retina. Moreover, the included visual gland allows the opportunity to aesthetically filter the visual signal. Filters (vintage, black and white etc.) can be activated or changed swallowing EYE pills,” MHOX explains.
“EYE Advance provides the ability to record and share the visual experience, thanks to the included gland that supports wi-fi communication. Once activated the wi-fi mode through the EYE connection pill it is possible to connect the EYE like an external camera for several devices,” it adds.
The high-tech eyes come with a hefty price
Being able to snap photos and even record the events we are witnessing using nothing but our eyes sounds like a whole lot of fun. The thing is that, as it turns out, MHOX's synthetic eyeballs come with a hefty price. No, it's not money we're talking about.
Apparently, people could only be fitted with one such bioprinted pair of eyeballs after first agreeing to have their nature-made sight organs removed and an artificial retina implanted into their body.
This artificial retina, referred to as the Deck, would serve to connect the synthetic organs to the brain and would make it possible to plug in and remove Heal, Enhance or Advance pairs of eyes at will. Otherwise put, people would get to choose their eyeballs for the day.
The Italian startup says that, should all go as planned, the first synthetic eyeballs that people can simply plug in and remove at will could become available sometime in 2027. Meanwhile, we'll have to settle for using our nature-made eyes.
