October 18, 2004

Artificial Retina Event, Chicago
Remarks prepared for Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham

Thank you, Ray.

I am enormously pleased to be here. The document we are signing today commemorates a collaborative effort between five Department of Energy National Laboratories, two universities, the Doheny Eye Institute, and Second Sight—a private company—to speed the design and development of an artificial retina for the blind.

I will leave it to the doctors to explain how the device actually works. The important thing is that the success of this artificial retina has opened up a universe of hopeful possibilities for those suffering from severe retinal disorders.

That is why, through this agreement, our Department is committing $20 million over the next three years to support universities and some of our national laboratories in accelerating and expanding the astonishing work that has already been accomplished.

When our Department launched the Artificial Retina Project, we saw the early promise of this technology. I had the pleasure of visiting the Doheny Institute two years ago to experience first hand the marvelous things being done there. But even as an enthusiastic supporter of this project, I did not anticipate how quickly we would see dramatic results. I am especially pleased to be able to meet one of patients, who now can see for the first time in 50 years.

Let me thank, first and foremost, Dr. Humayun—who has led this team from the beginning, and whose world-class, pioneering work has been at the center of this program’s ongoing success.

I also want to thank each of the five DOE national laboratories whose cutting-edge research has been instrumental in making all this happen: Lawrence Livermore, Los Alamos, Oak Ridge, Sandia and Argonne, which won an R&D 100 Award last year for the technology it developed for this retina project.

All five of the laboratories, building on their particular strengths, have made critical contributions.

The collaborative effort that has produced the artificial retina makes this, in fact, a quintessential DOE Science undertaking. Based on years of basic research in several fields, the device represents the work of scientists from many different backgrounds, and entails the sharing of technology from our labs with the private sector, for the benefit of society.

At DOE, we are always looking for areas in which our interdisciplinary strengths can be leveraged to revolutionize areas of science and technology, and to improve the world in which we live.

Indeed, the technology behind the artificial retina may be applied not only to the treatment of blindness, but other neural disorders such as spinal chord injuries, Parkinson’s disease, and deafness.
Over the past 50 years our national labs have produced enormous breakthroughs in the sciences to benefit the American public, and people around the world. I am confident that the future success of this and other projects will make the next 50 years a similar period of fabulous achievement.

Thank you.

Location:
Chicago, IL