Research Areas

Main approaches for the design of a visual prosthesis (Fernandez, 2018) include retinal (A), optic nerve (B), lateral geniculate nucleus (LGN, C), and cortical approaches (D).

Rethinking sight restoration through models, data, and lived experience.

We explore the science of human, animal, and artificial vision, bringing together neuroscience, psychology, and computer science to understand how vision works and how it can be restored or augmented.

Our work spans the full spectrum from behavior to computation. We study how people with visual impairment perceive and navigate the world, using psychophysics, VR/AR, and ambulatory head/eye/body tracking. We probe visual system function with EEG, TMS, and physiological sensing. And we design biophysical and machine learning models to simulate, evaluate, and optimize visual prostheses, often embedding these models directly into real-time XR environments. This blend of approaches lets us connect brain, behavior, and technology in ways no single discipline can achieve alone.

The research areas below capture the major questions we are pursuing today. Our open-source software platforms, including pulse2percept and BionicVisionXR, provide shared infrastructure across them.

Core Research Areas

We study how stimulation of the retina, LGN, and visual cortex produces artificial vision, and which biological details matter most for predicting the resulting percepts.

Emily M. Joyce · Hannah L. Stone · Eirini Schoinas

Visual Prostheses Brain Stimulation Computational Neuroscience

Recruiting

We develop methods for choosing stimulation patterns that produce a desired percept or neural response, using predictive models, optimization, and feedback from the user or the brain.

Michael Beyeler

Visual Prostheses Neural Interfaces Machine Learning

Recruiting

We study how people adapt to vision loss and restored sight, and how training, rehabilitation, and better outcome measures can improve everyday visual function.

Lily M. Turkstra

Blindness & Low Vision Visual Perception Vision Rehabilitation

We develop computer vision and XR systems that help people who are blind or have low vision navigate and understand real-world environments.

Apurv Varshney

Assistive Technology Computer Vision Blindness & Low Vision

We compare representations in biological and artificial visual systems to understand what makes them similar, where they differ, and which biological constraints matter for learning and behavior.

Lucas Nadolskis · Galen Pogoncheff

NeuroAI Computational Neuroscience Systems Neuroscience

We study vision during natural behavior: how eye, head, and body movements shape the visual input, how the brain responds, and how biological and artificial systems solve similar sensorimotor problems.

Yuchen Hou · Marius Schneider

Active Vision Systems Neuroscience Computational Neuroscience

Collaborative Projects

We use immersive VR, eye tracking, and mobile EEG to study how people navigate complex environments, how they use navigation aids, and why strategies and performance differ across individuals.

Mary Hegarty · Michael Beyeler · Barry Giesbrecht

Extended Reality Active Vision Eye Tracking EEG Visual Perception

We study how people use changing sensory signals to navigate, including how they actively sample visual and auditory gradients and combine unreliable cues across senses.

Matthieu Louis · Michael Beyeler

Active Vision Extended Reality Visual Perception