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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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From left, Johnson-Thompson, Legge, and Massof after presentation of Helen Keller Prize for Vision Research. Photo courtesy of Dustin Hays.

Two NEI Grantees Awarded Helen Keller Prize

Two researchers funded by the National Eye Institute (NEI), both pioneers in the study of low vision, received the Helen Keller Prize for Vision Research on May 5, in Denver.
Grantee News

Plugging In Your Vision's Autostabilization Feature

New research, published online May 7 in the journal Neuron, describes how axons of specialized nerve cells find their way through the brain’s maze of neurons to make the right connection.
Grantee News

Patients with AIDS at Increased Risk of Developing Age-Related Macular Degeneration

Patients with acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) have a four-fold increase in their risk of developing intermediate-stage age-related macular degeneration (AMD) compared to people of the same age who are not infected with HIV.
LCA is an inherited disorder that causes vision loss in childhood. It primarily affects the functioning of the retina, the light-sensitive tissue at the back of the eye, as shown here. Photo credit: National Eye Institute

NIH-funded Study Points Way Forward for Retinal Disease Gene Therapy

Gene therapy for Leber congenital amaurosis (LCA), an inherited disorder that causes vision loss starting in childhood, improved patients’ eyesight and the sensitivity of the retina within weeks of treatment.
Artist's rendering of neural activity in the retina. Light that enters the eye activates rod and cone photoreceptors, which in turn activate retinal ganglion cells. Signals travel to the brain via retinal ganglion cell axons. Photo credit: National Eye Institute.

NIH Launches Research to Gaze Deeply Into Your Eyes

Five bold projects will develop new technology to noninvasively image cells of the eye in unprecedented detail.The National Eye Institute (NEI) announced the awards as part of its Audacious Goals Initiative.
Eye Examination

Early Tight Blood Glucose Control Reduces Eye Surgeries in People with Type 1 Diabetes

People with type 1 diabetes who intensively control their blood glucose (blood sugar) early in their disease, versus those who do not, are 48 percent less likely to need eye surgery, and the total number of such surgeries is 37 percent less.
Grantee News

Rare Mutation Causes Vitamin A Deficiency and Eye Deformities

Researchers at the University of Michigan and UC Davis have solved a genetic mystery that has afflicted three unrelated families, and possibly others, for generations.
Grantee News

3D structure solved for vulnerable region of glaucoma-causing protein

Scientists at Georgia Tech have determined the three-dimensional structure of a key part of a protein that is associated with glaucoma and identified regions of this domain that correlate with severe forms of the disease.
Grantee News

Stem Cell Injection May Soon Reverse Vision Loss Caused By Age-Related Macular Degeneration

An injection of stem cells into the eye may soon slow or reverse the effects of early-stage age-related macular degeneration, according to new research from scientists at Cedars-Sinai.
Cross-sectional images of retina from retinoschisin-deficient mice, untreated and treated with XLRS gene therapy.

NEI Human Gene Therapy Trial for Retinoschisis Underway

The National Eye Institute (NEI) recently launched the first-ever human gene therapy trial for the vision disorder X-linked retinoschisis (XLRS). Researchers are conducting the trial at the National Institutes of Health Clinical Research Center in...