BMI Distinguished Seminar // Michael Schmid: Vision in Health and Disease: Parallel Pathways and Prosthetic Restoration

Vision loss can arise from damage to the retina, cortex, or developmental miswiring of visual pathways. Using non-human primate models and human translation, we explore how the visual brain adapts—or fails to adapt—under these different conditions, and how it can be reactivated through cortical stimulation.
After identifying V1-bypassing pathways that support residual vision in cortical blindness, later confirmed in humans, we now find that dysfunction of similar subcortical–extrastriate circuits may underlie perceptual deficits in developmental dyslexia. In parallel, we study prosthetic strategies to restore vision in retinal blindness through ​ electrical or optogenetic stimulation of V1. Complementary work shows that stimulating higher visual cortex or applying tACS over extrastriate areas can enhance perception and neuronal activity, suggesting that modulating these pathways may amplify prosthetic signals.
Together, these studies reveal common principles of compensation and restoration in the visual system, paralleling strategies used in the motor domain to bridge damaged circuits and recover function.