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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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Man getting his eyes examined by a doctor using a slit lamp

Retinitis pigmentosa research probes role of the enzyme DHDDS in this genetic disease

Researchers who made a knock-in mouse-model of the genetic disorder retinitis pigmentosa 59, or RP59, found no retinal degeneration or thinning, calling into question the commonly accepted mechanism for RP59.
Slices of brain with specific regions highlighted, suspended over images of faces

Faces, bodies, spiders, and radios: How the brain represents visual objects

Caltech researchers have combined tools from machine learning and neuroscience to discover that the brain uses a mathematical system to organize visual objects according to their principal components. The work was published June 3 in Nature.
Surface-dwelling fish with an eye, and pale cave fish without eye

Gene Found that Causes Eyes to Wither in Cavefish

University of Maryland-led study identified the first gene responsible for eye loss in cavefish, revealing connection to a human vascular disease.
Krystel Huxlin with patient in laboratory

'Time is vision' after a stroke

A person who has a stroke that causes vision loss is often told there is nothing they can do to improve or regain the vision they have lost. But research from the University of Rochester may offer hope to stroke patients in regaining vision.
3D reconstruction showing cells along fibrils

Eye Injury Sets Immune Cells On Surveillance To Protect The Lens

Researchers at Thomas Jefferson University finds that the eye launches an immune response in the lens after injury. After injury to the cornea, immune cells travel from the ciliary body to the lens along fibers known as ciliary zonules.

Early visual experience drives precise alignment of cortical networks critical for binocular vision

Researchers at the Max Planck Florida Institute for Neuroscience identify three distinct cortical representations that develop independent of visual experience but undergo experience-dependent reshaping, an essential part of cortical network maturation.
Fluorescent images of mouse retinal layers

Retinal Texture Could Provide Early Biomarker Of Alzheimer’s Disease

Biomedical engineers at Duke University have devised a new imaging device capable of measuring the various layers of the retina at the back of the eye, which could be used to detect Alzheimer's disease.
Purple, pink, white rings showing fluorescence from retina section

Eyes send an unexpected signal to the brain

New research, led by Northwestern University, has found that a subset of retinal neurons sends inhibitory signals to the brain. Before, researchers believed the eye only sends excitatory signals.
diagram of the eye

Temple Scientists Regenerate Neurons in Mice with Spinal Cord Injury and Optic Nerve Damage

New research by scientists at the Lewis Katz School of Medicine Temple University (LKSOM) shows that gains in functional recovery from optic nerve injuries may be possible, thanks to a molecule known as Lin28, which regulates cell growth.
Kantorow and Brennan

Florida Atlantic Scientists land NEI grant for tissue engineering approach

The Kantorow Laboratory and research program have been continually funded by the NIH’s National Eye Institute for almost two decades.