Thursday, February 19, 2026 2/19/2026

Naturalistic electrical stimulation strategies for effective visual cortical prostheses

Award Number: R01EY023336
ORGANIZATION: NATIONAL EYE INSTITUTE
OPDIV: NIH
AWARD CLASS: DISCRETIONARY
AWARD ACTIVITY TYPE: SCIENTIFIC/HEALTH RESEARCH (INCLUDES SURVEYS)
PERIOD OF PERFORMANCE START DATE: 09/01/2013
PERIOD OF PERFORMANCE END DATE: 02/28/2028

Group Awards By:

View Award Description

Naturalistic electrical stimulation strategies for effective visual cortical prostheses - Project Summary/Abstract Blindness is devasting condition that impacts millions of people across the world. In most cases of adult-onset blindness there is damage or dysfunction of the eye, retina, or optic nerve, but the visual cortex is left intact. Direct electrical stimulation of visual cortex, even in blind patients, produces perception of distinct spots of light known as phosphenes. It has long been recognized that this could form the basis for a visual cortical prosthesis (VCP), a device which could greatly improve the quality of life for blind patients by restoring some visual function. In recent years, there has been renewed interest in development of VCPs due to technical advances in computing, wireless data and power transmission, and electrode arrays. While these advances have greatly improved the interface with the cerebral cortex, substantial research is still required to determine how to use that interface to communicate visual information using electrical stimulation. VCPs have typically used electrical stimulation delivered in a way that provides an unnatural input to the visual cortex. This includes using a sequence of electrical stimulation pulses delivered at an arbitrary fixed frequency and delivered in a manner that is unrelated to ongoing cortical activity. Electrical stimulation delivered in this unnatural fashion has been one of the key limitations in the development of effective VCPs. This proposal focuses on multiple ways to deliver electrical stimulation in a more naturalistic fashion. Aim 1 examines the importance of stochastic variability in the timing and amplitude of electrical stimulation pulses in generation of visual percepts. Aim 2 evaluates the importance of coordinating electrical stimulation relative to patterns of ongoing cortical activity. If naturalistic stimulation is more effective in generating visual percepts, this should be accompanied by more effective activation of visual pathways, and this will be explicitly tested in Aim 3. This will be done by combining electrical stimulation of visual cortex with functional imaging. Naturalistic electrical stimulation protocols could lower the current requirements for future VCPs, and therefore improve device safety and longevity. More generally, the results from these experiments may reveal general principals of how to effectively and efficiently encode information into the cerebral cortex in other brain computer interface applications. Furthermore, determining the most effective ways to input information into the brain using electrical stimulation could improve scientific understanding of normal mechanisms of cortical information processing and the relationship between cortical activity and perception.


Issue Date FY	Funding FY	Legal Entity Name	Legal Entity Address	Legal Entity City	Legal Entity State	Legal Entity Zip Code	Legal Entity COUNTY	Legal Entity COUNTRY	Assistance Listing	Award Code	Budget Year	Action Date	Action Type	Action Amount

Issue Date FY: 2026 ( Subtotal = $667,929 )
2026	2026	TRUSTEES OF THE UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA, THE	3451 WALNUT STREET	PHILADELPHIA	PA	19104	PHILADELPHIA	USA	Vision Research	000	12	2/11/2026	NON-COMPETING CONTINUATION	$667,929
														Subtotal = $667,929

Issue Date FY: 2025 ( Subtotal = $678,979 )
2025	2025	TRUSTEES OF THE UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA, THE	3451 WALNUT ST STE 440A	PHILADELPHIA	PA	19104	PHILADELPHIA	USA	Vision Research	001	11	2/18/2025	NON-COMPETING CONTINUATION	$678,979
2025	2023	TRUSTEES OF THE UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA, THE	3451 WALNUT STREET	PHILADELPHIA	PA	19104	PHILADELPHIA	USA	Vision Research	000	9	1/15/2025	NON-COMPETING CONTINUATION	$0
														Subtotal = $678,979

Issue Date FY: 2024 ( Subtotal = $676,945 )
2024	2024	TRUSTEES OF THE UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA, THE	3451 WALNUT ST STE 440A	PHILADELPHIA	PA	19104	PHILADELPHIA	USA	Vision Research	000	10	2/29/2024	COMPETING CONTINUATION	$676,945
														Subtotal = $676,945

Issue Date FY: 2023 ( Subtotal = $406,250 )
2023	2023	TRUSTEES OF THE UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA, THE	3451 WALNUT ST STE 440A	PHILADELPHIA	PA	19104	PHILADELPHIA	USA	Vision Research	000	9	1/31/2023	NON-COMPETING CONTINUATION	$406,250
														Subtotal = $406,250

Issue Date FY: 2022 ( Subtotal = $394,063 )
2022	2022	TRUSTEES OF THE UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA, THE	3451 WALNUT ST STE 440A	PHILADELPHIA	PA	19104	PHILADELPHIA	USA	Vision Research	000	8	2/3/2022	NON-COMPETING CONTINUATION	$394,063
														Subtotal = $394,063

Issue Date FY: 2021 ( Subtotal = $393,557 )
2021	2021	TRUSTEES OF THE UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA, THE	3451 WALNUT ST STE 440A	PHILADELPHIA	PA	19104	PHILADELPHIA	USA	Vision Research	003	7	9/21/2021	CHANGE OF GRANTEE / TRAINING INSTITUTION / AWARDING INSTITUTION	$227,303
2021	2021	TRUSTEES OF THE UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA, THE	3451 WALNUT ST STE 440A	PHILADELPHIA	PA	19104	PHILADELPHIA	USA	Vision Research	001	7	7/30/2021	CHANGE OF GRANTEE / TRAINING INSTITUTION / AWARDING INSTITUTION	$393,557
2021	2020	BAYLOR COLLEGE OF MEDICINE	ONE BAYLOR PLAZA	HOUSTON	TX	77030	HARRIS	USA	Vision Research	002	6	9/21/2021	NON-COMPETING CONTINUATION	-$227,303
2021	2020	BAYLOR COLLEGE OF MEDICINE	ONE BAYLOR PLAZA	HOUSTON	TX	77030	HARRIS	USA	Vision Research	000	6	7/30/2021	NON-COMPETING CONTINUATION	$0
														Subtotal = $393,557

Issue Date FY: 2020 ( Subtotal = $396,250 )
2020	2020	BAYLOR COLLEGE OF MEDICINE	ONE BAYLOR PLAZA	HOUSTON	TX	77030	HARRIS	USA	Vision Research	000	6	2/11/2020	NON-COMPETING CONTINUATION	$396,250
														Subtotal = $396,250

Issue Date FY: 2019 ( Subtotal = $396,250 )
2019	2019	BAYLOR COLLEGE OF MEDICINE	ONE BAYLOR PLAZA	HOUSTON	TX	77030	HARRIS	USA	Vision Research	000	5	1/16/2019	COMPETING CONTINUATION	$396,250
2019	2019	BAYLOR COLLEGE OF MEDICINE	ONE BAYLOR PLAZA	HOUSTON	TX	77030	HARRIS	USA	Vision Research	002	5	2/18/2019	COMPETING CONTINUATION	$497
2019	2016	BAYLOR COLLEGE OF MEDICINE	ONE BAYLOR PLAZA	HOUSTON	TX	77030	HARRIS	USA	Vision Research	001	4	2/18/2019	EXTENSION WITH OR WITHOUT FUNDS	-$497
														Subtotal = $396,250

Issue Date FY: 2017 ( Subtotal = $0 )
2017	2016	BAYLOR COLLEGE OF MEDICINE	ONE BAYLOR PLAZA	HOUSTON	TX	77030	HARRIS	USA	Vision Research	001	4	2/4/2017	EXTENSION WITH OR WITHOUT FUNDS	$54,771
2017	2015	BAYLOR COLLEGE OF MEDICINE	ONE BAYLOR PLAZA	HOUSTON	TX	77030	HARRIS	USA	Vision Research	000	3	2/4/2017	NON-COMPETING CONTINUATION	-$54,771
														Subtotal = $0

Issue Date FY: 2016 ( Subtotal = $324,045 )
2016	2016	BAYLOR COLLEGE OF MEDICINE	ONE BAYLOR PLAZA	HOUSTON	TX	77030	HARRIS	USA	Vision Research	000	4	8/11/2016	EXTENSION WITH OR WITHOUT FUNDS	$324,045
														Subtotal = $324,045

Issue Date FY: 2015 ( Subtotal = $317,564 )
2015	2015	BAYLOR COLLEGE OF MEDICINE	ONE BAYLOR PLAZA	HOUSTON	TX	77030	HARRIS	USA	Vision Research	000	3	8/13/2015	NON-COMPETING CONTINUATION	$317,564
														Subtotal = $317,564

Issue Date FY: 2014 ( Subtotal = $317,564 )
2014	2014	BAYLOR COLLEGE OF MEDICINE	ONE BAYLOR PLAZA	HOUSTON	TX	77030	HARRIS	USA	Vision Research	000	2	8/28/2014	NON-COMPETING CONTINUATION	$317,564
														Subtotal = $317,564

Issue Date FY: 2013 ( Subtotal = $338,170 )
2013	2013	BAYLOR COLLEGE OF MEDICINE	ONE BAYLOR PLAZA	HOUSTON	TX	77030	HARRIS	USA	Vision Research	000	1	8/21/2013	NEW	$338,170
														Subtotal = $338,170

Grand Total All Awards = $5,307,566

Top

All Categories

About

Search

Reports

Data Submission

Award Information

Naturalistic electrical stimulation strategies for effective visual cortical prostheses

Award Number: R01EY023336

ORGANIZATION: NATIONAL EYE INSTITUTE

OPDIV: NIH

AWARD CLASS: DISCRETIONARY

AWARD ACTIVITY TYPE: SCIENTIFIC/HEALTH RESEARCH (INCLUDES SURVEYS)

PERIOD OF PERFORMANCE START DATE: 09/01/2013

PERIOD OF PERFORMANCE END DATE: 02/28/2028

Federal Websites

Department of Health & Human Services

HHS Operating Divisions

HHS Staff Divisions

Download A Document Viewer