Stimulating the retina to allow people to see a brand new color

A team of engineers, computer scientists and ophthalmologists at the University of California, Berkeley, working with a pair of colleagues at the University of Washington, has developed a technique for stimulating the retina that allows people to see a color not normally seen by humans.

In their study published in the journal Science Advances, the group identified certain photoreceptors in volunteers and then stimulated them to allow those volunteers to see the unique color, which the team has named "olo."

NEI-funded researchers “push the ENVLPE” with new virus-like particle to fix mutations causing blindness

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A research team funded by the National Eye Institute have developed a new virus-like particle (VLP) to enhance how specialists edit proteins causing inherited diseases.

This new VLP system, called engineered nucleocytosolic vehicles for loading of programmable editors — or ENVLPE — efficiently corrected two mutations associated with blindness. The researchers anticipate this CRISPR gene editing approach also being used to treat other inherited diseases, such as cystic fibrosis and familial hypercholesterolemia.

Nanotechnology may improve gene therapy for blindness

Using nanotechnology that enabled mRNA-based COVID-19 vaccines, a new approach to gene therapy may improve how physicians treat inherited forms of blindness.

Obesity linked to Macular Degeneration

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A Canadian study published in the journal Science elucidates a new molecular mechanism that may cause age-related macular degeneration (AMD).

The research at Hôpital Maisonneuve-Rosement, in Montreal, shows how life stressors such as obesity reprogram immune system cells and make them destructive to the eye as it ages.

Two separate eye diseases may contribute to Age-related Macular Degeneration

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Two separate eye diseases may contribute to age-related macular degeneration (AMD), a leading cause of blindness in the United States, according to a new study from New York Eye and Ear Infirmary of Mount Sinai.

According to a news release, the research is the first to demonstrate that two different types of deposits in the retina may contribute to early AMD, which can progress to advanced AMD and blindness. These two diseases could be diagnosed, studied, and treated separately with appropriate early intervention to prevent vision loss and other complications.

Does Anti-VEGF Injections Increase the likelihood of Tractional Retinal Detachment in Proliferative Diabetic Retinopatht?

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Is there an increased risk for tractional retinal detachment (TRD) in proliferative diabetic retinopathy (PDR) associated with intravitreal injections alone compared with other treatment regimens? That's the question that researchers at Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania sought an answer for. 

New potential mechanism for vision loss discovered

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Scientists from Germany have discovered that visual cells in the human retina may not simply die in some diseases, but are mechanically transported out of the retina beforehand. For their research, they used miniature human retinas produced in the laboratory, so-called organoids. 

The authors report on their research in the journal Nature Communications, which paves the way for completely new research approaches, especially in connection with age-related macular degeneration (AMD).