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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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Synapses between neurons in thalamus and cortex.

Sparse, small, but diverse neural connections help make perception reliable, efficient

In a study from the Picower Institute at MIT, the first detailed mapping and modeling of thalamus inputs onto visual cortex neurons show brain leverages “wisdom of the crowd” to process sensory information.

Small creatures teach big lessons

In the vision field, researchers turn to a variety of small, non-mammalian animal models to help bridge gaps in our scientific knowledge.
Eye with coloboma

Zebrafish model helps explain eye development

Developed by NIH scientists, the model also sheds light on developmental eye disorders such as coloboma.
Green-stained limbal stem cells track towards center of mouse cornea.

Dry eye disease alters how the eye’s cornea heals itself after injury

Studying mice, researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have found that proteins made by stem cells that regenerate the cornea may be new targets for treating and preventing corneal injuries in people with dry eye.
Diagram of myopic eye stretched front-to-back showing light focused in front of the retina

SUNY Optometry receives grant to reveal cellular and molecular mechanisms affecting myopia development

Myopia is a leading cause of vision impairment worldwide and is growing in prevalence, this study aims to provide a deeper understanding of the biology of myopia that will lead to new and more effective treatments.
Microelectrode array and 2-photon microscope.

Human brain organoids implanted into mouse cortex respond to visual stimuli for first time

A team of engineers and neuroscientists has demonstrated for the first time that human brain organoids implanted in mice have established functional connectivity to the animals’ cortex and responded to external sensory stimuli.
Fluorescently labeled injured zebrafish retina.

Study identifies a signaling cascade behind retina regeneration in zebrafish

Research from University of Michigan scientists reveals Vegf-Notch signaling system that is activated in the injured retina, gives Muller glia stem cell properties.
Researchers examining brain

Brain cells use a telephone trick to report what they see

A new study from Duke University finds that single neurons conveying visual information about two separate objects in sight do so by alternating signals about one or the other.

Researchers investigate neuron differentiation in fruit fly brains

Researchers from the University of Illinois shed light on how neural stem cells called neuroblasts divide multiple times to sequentially produce neurons of specialized function.
Illuminated neuron projection from visual cortext

Neuroscience researchers awarded nearly $2 million by National Institutes of Health to study visual processing

Jordan Hamm, an assistant professor of neuroscience at Georgia State University, has received a five-year, $1.93 million award from the National Eye Institute.