NEI Research News

Spider-like cells inside the brain, spinal cord and eye hunt for invaders, capturing and then devouring them. These cells, called microglia, often play a beneficial role by helping to clear trash and protect the central nervous system against infection.

Columbia University Medical Center (CUMC) researchers have created a way to develop personalized gene therapies for patients with retinitis pigmentosa (RP), a leading cause of vision loss.

In a new study, a chemical compound designed to precisely target part of a crucial cellular quality-control network provided significant protection, in rats and mice, against degenerative forms of blindness and diabetes.

In laboratory tests, researchers have used electrical stimulation of retinal cells to produce the same patterns of activity that occur when the retina sees a moving object.

Researchers have made progress toward an approach that would use light-sensitive drugs to stimulate cells in the retina and restore vision to people who are blind or visually impaired.

On February 14, 2013, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved the Argus II Retinal Prosthesis System, the first implanted device to treat adult patients with advanced retinitis pigmentosa (RP).

Researchers have developed a new prosthetic technique that can restore vision to blind mice. The approach could potentially be further developed to improve sight in blind people.

The Argus II retinal prosthesis, developed by Second Sight, Inc., with funding from the National Eye Institute (NEI), was recognized September 8, 2011, in honor of being the 8 millionth patent issued by the United States Patent and Trademark Office.

Investigators reported in 1993 that the progressive course of retinal degeneration, as assessed by the electroretinogram (ERG), was slower on average among adults with retinitis pigmentosa.

Nerve cells that normally are not light sensitive in the retinas of blind mice can respond to light when a green algae protein called channelrhodopsin-2 (ChR2) is inserted into the cell membranes according to a National Institutes of Health...