NEI Research News

Bugs in your eyes may be a good thing. Resident microbes living on the eye are essential for immune responses that protect the eye from infection, new research shows.

Recent strides toward understanding dry eye are leading to better and longer-lasting therapies for the millions of people in the U.S. who are affected by the condition.

Research funded by the National Eye Institute aims to reverse progression of cataracts—the most common cause of blindness worldwide—or to prevent them from forming altogether.

A new NEI-funded study in Nature helps to explain how specialized retinal cells help stabilize vision by perceiving how their owner is moving.

Researchers have found that the brain makes new connections in those with early blindness (i.e. those born with or who have acquired profound blindness before the age of 3).

The formation of tumors in the eye can cause blindness. But, for some reason our corneas, the transparent layer that forms the front of our eyes, have a natural ability to prevent it.

Six biological pigments called rhodopsins play well-established roles in light-sensing in the fruit fly eye. Three of them also have light-independent roles in temperature sensation.

Monthly eye injections of Avastin (bevacizumab) are as effective as the more expensive drug Eylea (aflibercept) for the treatment of central retinal vein occlusion (CRVO), according to a clinical trial funded by the National Eye Institute (NEI)...

Systemic therapy consisting of corticosteroids and immunosuppressants preserved vision of uveitis patients better – and had fewer adverse outcomes – than a long-lasting corticosteroid intraocular implant, according to a clinical trial funded by NEI.

NEI funded research experts at the University of Southern California Roski Eye Institute found that visual impairment in preschool children will increase 26 percent affecting almost 220,000 children over the next 45 years.