New focus on ocular inflammation and possible therapeutic pathways

A new study published in The American Journal of Pathology provides new evidence that immune cells enter the retina via the body's standard pathway, identifying Platelet Endothelial Cell Adhesion Molecule (PECAM; also known as CD31) as the gatekeeper and neutrophils as proresolving mediators. This research offers new insights into how eye inflammation develops and could lead to better-targeted treatment options.

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

(c) Prevent Blindness

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.