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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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149 items
Green retinal ganglion cell spreads dendrites in all directions.

Antabuse may help revive vision in people with progressive blinding disorders

Researchers at the University of California, Berkeley, have found that a drug once widely used to wean alcoholics off of drinking helps to improve sight in mice with retinal degeneration.
retina blood vessels

Indiana University-led study shows human induced pluripotent stem cells improve visual acuity, vascular health

Researchers improved vision in a type 2 diabetes mouse model by reprogramming blood cells into endothelial cells with vessel reparative properties similar to endothelial colony forming cells.
Image of a heart superimposed over a retinal image

AI can identify heart disease from an eye scan

Scientists have developed an artificial intelligence system that can analyze eye scans taken during a routine visit to an optician or eye clinic and identify patients at a high risk of a heart attack.
Schematic summarizing the research by Sodhi’s team.

Study Finds Up to 30% of Patients with Wet Macular Degeneration Can Safely Stop Eye Injections

In a preliminary study, Johns Hopkins Medicine researchers report that as many as a third of those with "wet" age-related macular degeneration may someday be able to safely stop eye injection therapy without further vision loss.
Group of cells tinted purple in the middle and pink at the edges representing a human induced stem cell colony from a patient with albinism.

NIH researchers develop first stem cell model of albinism to study related eye conditions

Researchers at the National Eye Institute (NEI) have developed the first patient-derived stem cell model for studying eye conditions related to oculocutaneous albinism (OCA).

NIH researchers identify potential AMD drugs with stem-cell based research tool

Using a stem-cell-derived model, researchers have identified two drug candidates that may slow dry age-related macular degeneration (AMD), a leading cause of blindness for which no treatment exists.

NIH study traces molecular link from gene to late-onset retinal degeneration

Scientists have discovered that gene therapy and the diabetes drug metformin may be potential treatments for late-onset retinal degeneration (L-ORD), a rare, blinding eye disease.
Spencer Smith with microscope in laboratory

A New Microscope for Imaging Neural Circuitry

Researchers from UCSB report the development of a new microscope they describe as “Dual Independent Enhanced Scan Engines for Large field-of-view Two-Photon imaging (Diesel2p),” which provides unprecedented brain-imaging ability.
Retinal pigment epithelial cells stained green and magenta

CU Researchers Provide First Evidence Linking Extracellular Vesicles with Drusen Formation and Age-Related Macular Degeneration

CellSight researchers at the University of Colorado School of Medicine are offering the first evidence connecting drusen formation, or yellowish deposits that accumulate under the retina, with extracellular vesicles and age-related macular degeneration.

Retinoid Therapy May Improve Vision in People with Rare Genetic Disorder, According to Study in Mice

Researchers have uncovered the mechanism of vision loss in Usher syndrome, yielding additional drug targets for eventual development of better therapies.