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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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214 items

NEI Scientists publish recipe for making blood vessel cells from patient stem cells

Researchers at NIH’s National Eye Institute have published a detailed protocol for making three cell types that are key components to form blood vessels and capillaries.
Axon terminals of color photoreceptors

Do people and monkeys see colors the same way?

Study from University of Washington shows some nerve cell circuits for color vision are uniquely human.
Older woman's right eye

New insights: Eye damage in Alzheimer’s disease patients

Cedars-Sinai investigators map changes to the retina that correspond to brain changes in the early stage of Alzheimer's disease, opening a path to earlier diagnosis.
A person with diabetes checks their blood sugar

Researchers unravel why episodes of low blood sugar worsen eye disease in people with diabetes

Researchers at Johns Hopkins Medicine say they have linked transient low blood sugar levels that occur in people with diabetes with a molecular pathway that is turned on in oxygen-starved cells in the eye.
3D illustration of nanoparticle inside an eye

Nanotechnology may improve gene therapy for blindness

Using nanotechnology that enabled mRNA-based COVID-19 vaccines, a new approach to gene therapy may improve how physicians treat inherited forms of blindness.
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.
retina blood vessels

One of two widely used AMD drugs outperforms other at weaning patients off treatment at one year, preliminary study shows

A pilot study of 106 patients with “wet” AMD revealed that nearly half of patients treated with Eylea could safely stop therapy after one year, compared to only 17% of patients treated with Avastin.

Putting stem cell-based therapies in context

Rogue clinics offer stem cell-based therapies that haven’t been tested for safety and efficacy. When communicating to the public about stem cell-based therapies, it is important to put any treatment claims in context.

Seeing in 3D

Columbia University researchers examined what goes wrong in the eyes of mice with albinism.

NEI researchers home in on a new cause of Stargardt disease

Using a new stem-cell based model made from skin cells, scientists found the first direct evidence that Stargardt-related ABCA4 gene mutations affect a layer of cells in the eye called the retinal pigment epithelium (RPE).