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.
As scientists move closer to testing regenerative therapies for eye disease, techniques are needed to monitor transplanted cells as they integrate with host tissues.
Equipped with a color 3D camera, an inertial measurement sensor, and its own on-board computer, a newly improved robotic cane could offer blind and visually impaired users a new way to navigate indoors.
Questioning the belief that that people born blind could never truly understand color, a team of cognitive neuroscientists demonstrated that congenitally blind and sighted individuals actually understand it quite similarly.
Research has shown that people who are born blind or become blind early in life often have a more nuanced sense of hearing, especially when it comes to musical abilities and tracking moving objects in space (imagine crossing a busy road using sound alone)
Researchers at the University of California, Berkeley, find that restoring opsins with gene therapy can make 'blind' cells light-sensitive; potential human treatment within three years.
Hundreds of new genes linked to blindness and other vision disorders have been identified in a screen of mouse strains. Many of these genes are likely important in human eye vision and the results could help identify new causes of hereditary blindness.
During aging, loss of vision and cognition often coincide. In a new study, researchers funded by the National Eye Institute (NEI) and the National Institute on Aging (NIA) have found that vision loss precedes loss of mental capacity.
Researchers have found that the brain makes new connections in those with early blindness (i.e. those born with or who have acquired profound blindness before the age of 3).
During Low Vision Awareness Month, the National Eye Institute (NEI), part of the National Institutes of Health, is highlighting new technologies and tools in the works to help the 4.1 million Americans living with low vision or blindness.
The number of people with visual impairment or blindness in the United States is expected to double to more than 8 million by 2050, according to projections.
