Blindness News and Research

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Blending multiple maps uncover new genetic causes of blindness

In a new study, Ran Elkon and Ruth Ashery-Padan of Tel Aviv University, Israel, and colleagues discovered a new genetic risk factor for adult-onset macular degeneration (AMD) by combining a map of gene regulatory sites with disease-associated loci.

18 Jan 2023

3D “mini eyes” provide insight into genetically induced blindness

The development of “mini eyes” by researchers at the UCL Great Ormond Street Institute of Child Health (UCL GOS ICH) has made it possible to study and comprehend the onset of blindness in the rare genetic disease known as Usher syndrome more.

From University College London 22 Nov 2022

New tool advances potential means to deliver gene therapy

Researchers from Johns Hopkins Medicine claim to have successfully “slid” genetic instructions into a cell and produced essential proteins that were lacking from those cells using a cell’s normal process for creating proteins.

1 Nov 2022

Adults with congenital blindness experience striking recoveries of night vision after gene therapy

Adults with a genetic form of childhood-onset blindness experienced striking recoveries of night vision within days of receiving an experimental gene therapy, according to researchers at the Scheie Eye Institute in the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania.

11 Oct 2022

Native 3D structure of the ciliary base witnessed for the first time

Because flaws in the cilia transport system can result in, for example, blindness or cystic kidneys, findings reported in Science offer new understandings of the molecular basis for different diseases.

20 Sep 2022

Adaptive optics imaging helps visualize the pathogenesis of choroideremia

Researchers at the National Eye Institute (NEI) have demonstrated for the first time how cells across various tissue layers in the eye are impacted in individuals with choroideremia, a rare genetic disorder that causes blindness.

14 Sep 2022

Researchers discover the gene essential for the growth of photoreceptors

Srrm3 is a master regulator gene essential for the growth of photoreceptors, cells in the rear of the retina that catch and process light and transmit signals to the brain that allow vision, according to research, from the Centre for Genomic Regulation (CRG) in Barcelona.

14 Jul 2022

Researchers create novel human cell line to explore blinding eye disorders

Researchers at the LSU Health New Orleans Neuroscience Center of Excellence have created a novel, experimental human cell line from retinal pigment epithelial cells, under the supervision of Boyd Professor Nicolas Bazan, MD, PhD.

14 Jul 2022

Researchers analyze and demonstrate how organelles divide into cells

The research, headed by Professor Michael Schrader of the University of Exeter, looked at peroxisome dynamics and discovered new ways for them to divide.

From University of Exeter 10 Jun 2022

Study describes the importance of the autoimmune response in bacteria

CRISPR has made headlines in recent years for its potential to help patients with conditions as diverse as blindness and sickle cell disease. However, bacteria were already using CRISPR as an immune system to combat viruses long before humans adopted it to combat genetic disorders.

3 Jun 2022

Research highlights how cornea T cells may track and combat viral infections

According to a new study, the cornea creates a sensitive and restricted immune response to combat infections without causing visual damage.

30 May 2022

Researchers identify gene mutation to have the potential to induce higher intelligence in humans

When genes mutate, serious diseases of the human nervous system can result. Scientists from Leipzig University and the University of Würzburg have now used fruit flies to show how, in addition to the negative impact, mutation of a neuronal gene can have a beneficial impact—higher IQ in humans.

12 May 2022

UF study adds new dimension to the biology of local plant

A new University of Florida study has found that a local plant, the tall elephant's foot, can be pushy -; which wasn't previously known.

25 Apr 2022

Researchers detect major contamination in organic vegetables, likely to cause fatal illness

According to a new study proposed at this year’s European Congress of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases (ECCMID) in Lisbon, Portugal (23–26 April, 2022), disease-causing amoebas that reside on natural leafy vegetables can preserve human pathogens such as Pseudomonas, Salmonella, and Helicobacter, posing a public health hazard. Dr Yolanda Moreno and colleagues from Spain’s Universitat Politècnica de València conducted the research.

25 Apr 2022

Protein appears key to the function and survival of brain cells most impacted by glaucoma

A ubiquitous protein called sigma 1 receptor, which is known to protect cells from stress, appears key to the function and survival of the neurons most impacted by glaucoma, scientists report.

2 Mar 2022

Researchers aim to tackle neurodegenerative diseases of the eye and brain

Could a new paradigm in digital health treat blinding disorders and possibly also be a conduit for treating other parts of the brain? A multi-disciplinary team of world-renowned researchers at USC are exploring this exciting possibility.

31 Jan 2022

Cryo-ET reveals mechanisms underlying gene mutations that lead to blindness

Researchers have discovered the structural determinants of the highly specialized rod outer segments membrane architecture of the eye, which plays a crucial role in vision.

7 Jan 2022

Researchers identify production mechanism of light-sensitive protein of photoreceptors

Every 6 minutes someone is told they're going blind. One of the major causes of human blindness is a disease called Retinitis Pigmentosa (RP), which causes progressive degeneration of the retina and vision loss.

20 Dec 2021

Gene writing helps develop advanced therapies safely and effectively

An international, multidisciplinary team of researchers from the Translational Synthetic Biology Laboratory at Pompeu Fabra University (Barcelona, Spain), led by Dr. Marc Güell, has published an article in the scientific journal Nature Communications.

14 Dec 2021