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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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18 items
Nitin Verma

Filling the eye care gap down under

Nitin Verma visited NIH and shared his lifetime perspective on the delivery of vision care to underserved populations in the Australia/South Pacific region—roughly 50-million people scattered across vast stretches of land and ocean.
New York subway with moving train.

New app developed at NYU Tandon promises to make navigating subway stations easier for people with blindness and low vision

Designed by researchers at NYU, Commute Booster routes public-transportation users through the “middle mile” — the part of a journey inside subway stations or other similar transit hubs.
A 3D readout of a protein gel.

Baylor Study Combines Lithophane, 3D Printing to Make Scientific Data Accessible to Everyone Regardless of Level of Eyesight

Scientists use old-fashioned art form and 3D printing to make major advance in eliminating exclusion of individuals with blindness or low vision from chemistry and other life sciences.
AGI identity mark

Learning how transplanted neurons fit in

As scientists move closer to testing regenerative therapies for eye disease, techniques are needed to monitor transplanted cells as they integrate with host tissues.

NIH-funded modern “white cane” brings navigation assistance to the 21st century

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.
Calcium-rich foods include milk, yogurt and cheese, as well as non-dairy sources such as kale, white beans and sesame seeds.

Blind People Can’t See Color but Understand It the Same Way as Sighted People

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.
Grantee News

Brains of Blind People Adapt to Sharpen Sense of Hearing, Study Shows

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)
Grantee News

With Single Gene Insertion, Blind Mice Regain Sight

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.
Grantee News

300 Blind Mice Uncover Genetic Causes of Eye Disease

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.
Woman taking visual acuity test

Study suggests maintaining good vision may stave off cognitive decline

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.