About Us

The mission of the BRIP to create better devices to help visually-impaired patients arose out of Dr. Joseph Rizzo's experience in taking care of visually-impaired patients as a Neuro-Ophthalmologist at Harvard Medical School. During the course of his NIH-funded "Physician-Scientist" award, Dr. Rizzo conceived of the concept of a retinal prosthesis and recruited the enduring Co-Founder of the Boston Retinal Implant Project, Professor John Wyatt of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Together, they have built an exceptional multi-disciplinary team of biologists, engineers, and clinicians who have performed basic and translational research toward the single goal of helping the blind become more independent. The Boston Retinal Implant Project (BRIP) research team includes biologists with specialities in: retinal physiology, visual cortical physiology, brain plasticity, retinal surgery and retinal anatomy; engineers with specialities in analog and digitial integrated circuit design with ultra-low power consumption, microfabrication, wireless communication, materials science, hermetic packaging, and software development; and clincians with specialities in Ophthalmology, Optometry, Neurology, and Neuro-Ophthalmology. The BRIP has existed as a "virtual" research environment that has been built by gradual addition of scientists who provided specialized technical expertise. The BRIP includes research laboratories and offices at: the Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Boston University, the Cornell NanoScale Science and Technology Facility (Ithaca, NY), EIC Laboratories (Norwood, MA), the University of Louisville, the University of Alabama (Huntsville, AL), the University of California (Santa Barbara) and the University of California (Berkeley).

The strategic approach of the BRIP is built upon the creation and customization of advanced biological and engineering sciences to develop novel medical devices — this approach is the basis for our moto: "Restoring Sight Through Science". The BRIP has been developing two types of medical devices to help the visually-impaired. The first device is a pair of "Smart" glasses that incorporates electronic technology, including an ultra-small camera, into a cosmetically-acceptable pair of glasses that will provide assistance to blind patients on tasks of routine daily iiving. The second device is a retinal prosthesis, a device that is designed to be implanted around the back of the eye to deliver small pulses of electrical stimluation to the retina to create visual images. Both devices are designed to increase the independence of visually-impaired patients.

Though the BRIP helped establish the field of retinal prosthetic research, the BRIP chose not to form a company until its devices had matured sufficiently. The BRIP was founded with the goal of developing devices that would provide truly useful visual information to blind patients. Now that the BRIP is nearing this goal, the BRIP has founded Visus Technology, Inc. to raise the capital required to complete its mission and to lead our team through the FDA regulatory steps that are required to commercialize our technology. The choice of postponing the formation of a company has allowed the BRIP to follow a more cost-efficient approach to create upgrades to its devices, which could not have been accomplished as easily if a company had been formed earlier. Visus Technology, Inc. is now poised to enter the market with two state-of-the-art devices that should provide unparalled vision to blind patients. The delay in forming our company has been worth the wait!