The mission of the Boston Retinal Implant Project (BRIP) is 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), and the University of California (Santa Barbara).