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NEI Research News

Thanks to the work of NEI scientists and grantees, we’re constantly learning new information about the causes and treatment of vision disorders. Get the latest updates about their work — along with other news about NEI.

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Cold Sores: Here’s How Stress, Illness and Even Sunburn Trigger Flareups

Researchers at the UVA School of Medicine have shed light on what causes herpes simplex virus to flare up, explaining how stress, illness and even sunburn can trigger unwanted outbreaks.

New Research Sheds Light on Vision Loss in Batten Disease

New research shows how the mutation associated with Batten disease could potentially lead to degeneration of light sensing photoreceptor cells in the retina, and subsequent vision loss.

Breakthrough by Moran Eye Center Scientist, Colleagues Fuels New Line of Disease Research

Scientists at the University of Utah have invented a method for synthesizing large enough quantities of very-long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids (VLC-PUFAs) to evaluate their potential sight-preserving properties.

HIV Drugs May Help Prevent Blinding Macular Degeneration

Scientists have identified a group of drugs that may help stop a leading cause of vision loss after making an unexpected discovery that overturns a fundamental belief about DNA.

Researchers use patients’ cells to test gene therapy for rare eye disease

Scientists at the National Eye Institute (NEI) have developed a promising gene therapy strategy for a rare disease that causes severe vision loss in childhood.
sugar

Study suggests sugary diet endangers waste-eating protein crucial to cellular repair

A protein that functions like the vintage video game Pac-Man, eating toxic cellular waste caused by high sugar intake, is itself compromised by a sugary diet, according to the results of a study in mice with potential implications for humans.

How the Brain Learns That Earmuffs Are Not Valuable at the Beach

A new study from the University of Tsukuba in Japan and the NEI reveals how the brain learns to place different values on objects depending on the environmental context.

A Rift in the Retina May Help Repair the Optic Nerve

In experiments in mouse tissues and human cells, Johns Hopkins Medicine researchers say they have found that removing a membrane that lines the back of the eye may improve the success rate for regrowing nerve cells damaged by blinding diseases.

A Niche for the Eye

Research from the Stowers Institute suggests that the ciliary body might be key to detecting eye diseases before vision is impaired.
Two boys smile at the camera. Asymmetric dark spots block parts of the image, representing vision loss from diabetic retinopathy.

AI algorithms detect diabetic eye disease inconsistently

Researchers from UW Medicine have found that artificial intelligence-based screening algorithms to diagnose diabetic retinopathy do not perform as well as they claim.