Ophthalmology News and Research

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Ophthalmology is the specialized field of medicine that focuses on the health of the eye. It includes the anatomy, physiology and diseases that may affect the eye. Historically, the science of ophthalmology encompassed all aspects of visual function, both in health and in illness. Additionally, ophthalmology also includes animal eyes as ocular function and optic diseases are similar among humans and animals.

Consuming large amounts of daily caffeine may increase the risk of glaucoma

Consuming large amounts of daily caffeine may increase the risk of glaucoma more than three-fold for those with a genetic predisposition to higher eye pressure according to an international, multi-center study.

8 Jun 2021

Odor-based test accurately distinguishes hard-to-detect cancers

An odor-based test that sniffs out vapors emanating from blood samples was able to distinguish between benign and pancreatic and ovarian cancer cells with up to 95 percent accuracy, according to a new study from researchers at the University of Pennsylvania and Penn's Perelman School of Medicine.

3 Jun 2021

Study reveals genetic mutation associated with exfoliation syndrome

A team of researchers from the Agency for Science, Technology and Research's (A*STAR) Genome Institute of Singapore (GIS) and Bioprocessing Technology Institute (BTI), as well as Singapore Eye Research Institute (SERI), have identified a genetic mutation (functionally defective CYP39A1 gene) associated with exfoliation syndrome, the most common cause of glaucoma.

5 May 2021

Study identifies new biomarkers for the prognosis of gastric adenocarcinoma

A study headed by UCM reports that polymorphisms in gene TGFB1 and low plasma levels of protein TGFB1 serve as biomarkers for the gastric adenocarcinoma prognosis.

19 Mar 2021

Key protein regulates cells’ innate defense mechanisms

Scientists from the University of Illinois Chicago (UIC) have found that heparanase (HPSE) is an important regulator of innate defense mechanisms of cells.

17 Mar 2021

Alzheimer’s proteins linked to age-related vision loss

A recently published study has demonstrated a close correlation between proteins linked to age-related vision loss and Alzheimer’s disease.

11 Mar 2021

Multidisciplinary approaches for data management in omics research

Bioinformatics, and by extension omic sciences - the collective disciplines that are dependent on the use of extensive datasets of biological information - present a challenge of data management for researchers all over the world.

25 Feb 2021

Study demonstrates drug repurposing can be used to treat genetic diseases

A new study by researchers at the University of Illinois Chicago describes a potential technique of using drug repurposing for the treatment of genetic diseases.

18 Dec 2020

Researchers discover genetic factors underlying diabetic retinopathy

In a quest to find the genetic factors that are fundamental to diabetic retinopathy, scientists from the University of Illinois Chicago (UIC) have also discovered a new method that can be employed as a template to investigate other types of diseases.

8 Dec 2020

Treatment using immune system T cells preserves vision of mice with retinoblastoma

A treatment that uses immune system T cells, combined with an immune-boosting drug packaged in an injectable gel, was found to preserve the vision of mice implanted with tissue from a human eye cancer known as retinoblastoma.

13 Oct 2020

Biomarker for diagnosis of neurodegenerative diseases identified in the eye

A new study led by Boston Medical Center researchers indicates a well-known biomarker that serves as a marker for earlier diagnosis of neurodegenerative diseases is now detectable in the eye.

24 Sep 2020

New insight into how people with retinal degenerative disease can maintain night vision

New insight on how people with retinal degenerative disease can maintain their night vision for a relatively long period of time has been published today in the open-access eLife journal.

23 Sep 2020

Gene therapy to the inner retina prevents blindness in Cln3-deficient mice

Gene therapy to the inner retina prevented blindness in a mouse model of the neuro-degenerative disorder CLN3 Batten disease.

11 Aug 2020

Discovering the Critical Role of Astrocytes in Neurodegenerative Diseases

AZoLifeSciences talks to Dr. Shane Liddelow about their research into discovering the critical role of astrocytes in neurodegenerative diseases like glaucoma.

29 Jul 2020

New startup launched to overcome the challenge of delivering next-generation therapeutics

Harvard University's Office of Technology Development (OTD) and the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health today announced the launch of Vesigen Therapeutics, a startup company that aims to overcome the challenge of delivering next-generation therapeutics, such as gene-editing complexes, RNA molecules, and other large proteins, to intracellular targets in specific tissues of interest.

23 Jul 2020

Boosting metabolic resources in the brain could be a way to slow neurodegeneration

Researchers at Vanderbilt University Medical Center have shown for the first time that when one optic nerve in the eye is damaged, as in glaucoma, the opposite optic nerve comes to the rescue by sharing its metabolic energy.

22 Jul 2020

A new approach to combat drug resistance in aggressive age-related macular degeneration

An international team of researchers led by Baylor College of Medicine and Houston Methodist has discovered a strategy that can potentially address a major challenge to the current treatment for choroidal neovascularization (CNV), an aggressive form of age-related macular degeneration, the leading cause of irreversible blindness in the elderly.

17 Jul 2020

Astrocytes may play a key role in neurodegenerative disorders

According to a new research performed in rodents, cells that usually nurture nerves may actually destroy them following a brain injury.

24 Jun 2020

Stem cell model sheds new light on neurodegeneration process

A new study published today in Neuron led by The New York Stem Cell Foundation Research Institute's Valentina Fossati, Ph.D., creates astrocytes - an integral support cell in the brain - from stem cells and shows that in disease-like environments, these normally helpful cells can turn into neuron-killers.

2 Jun 2020

Newly discovered gene variants offer therapeutic possibilities for glaucoma

An international team of researchers, headed by scientists from Stanford University and the University of Helsinki, has discovered unique changes in a gene, known as ANGPTL7, that reduce intraocular pressure and considerably decrease the risk of glaucoma.

6 May 2020