The newfound ability to get a close-up look at what’s occurring in retinal cells and their neural networks may offer new potential—and hope—for treatments.

The innovative NN-chip technology invented by Lidong Qin, PhD, and his team in the Department of Nanomedicine is overcoming the long-standing challenge of studying the retina—its delicate structure, the very thing that makes it so sensitive also makes it so vulnerable to disease. Retinal disease, primarily caused by the progressive dysfunction and death of photoreceptors, can be induced by mutations, as seen in macular degeneration. Another cause is excessive light irradiation, for example damage caused by over exposure to the glare of electronic screens.

Qin’s lab-on-a-chip technology is based on another of his inventions, BloC-Printing, which allows researchers to print living cells onto any surface in any shape within the confines of a mold. Now, the next generation NN-Chip can load and test cells with micro-needles in an open dish, tailoring the neural network to allow study of individual cells, in addition to observing how drugs progress through the platform’s many channels. It has created a model that can study retinal damage as it occurs in cells, and also can screen possible drugs to repair damaged neuron and retinal connections.