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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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A pronghorn antelope in the Grand Teton National Park captured by a DSLR camera using the image stabilization function (left). The image on the right was artificially blurred to simulate one’s vision without the work of direction-sensitive ganglion cells. Photo is courtesy of Lu O. Sun, Johns Hopkins Medicine.

The Brain’s Autofocus System Helps Stabilize Vision Despite Motion

Much like the automatic focus of a camera, our eyes and brains must constantly recalibrate so that we can get a clear view of the changing—and always moving—world around us.
Leaders from the University of Philippines (UP) and Philippine NIH (PNIH) met with NEI staff in May 2015. From L to R: Dr. Fielding Hejtmancik; Dr. Marie Carmela M. Lapitan, director of research management and translation, PNIH; Dr. Arlene Samaniego, vice chancellor, UP; Dr. Eva Maria Cutiongco-de la Paz, vice chancellor for research and executive director, PNIH; Dr. Belinda Seto; Dr. Carmencita Padilla; Dr. Paul A. Sieving; Dr. Gyan Prakash, Dr. Patricia Cabrera; and Dr. Manuel Datiles.

Dr. Patricia Cabrera: Learning Genetics and Linking NEI to the Philippines

A delegation from the University of the Philippines (UP) and the Philippine National Institutes of Health recently visited NEI on May 21, 2015. It was an opportunity to renew old collaborations and discuss new ones...
Grantee News

Mind Over Matter

Through a clinical collaboration, a 34-year-old paralyzed from the neck down is the first person in the world to have a neural prosthetic device implanted in a region of the brain where intentions are made.
From left, Johnson-Thompson, Legge, and Massof after presentation of Helen Keller Prize for Vision Research. Photo courtesy of Dustin Hays.

Two NEI Grantees Awarded Helen Keller Prize

Two researchers funded by the National Eye Institute (NEI), both pioneers in the study of low vision, received the Helen Keller Prize for Vision Research on May 5, in Denver.
Grantee News

Plugging In Your Vision's Autostabilization Feature

New research, published online May 7 in the journal Neuron, describes how axons of specialized nerve cells find their way through the brain’s maze of neurons to make the right connection.
Grantee News

Patients with AIDS at Increased Risk of Developing Age-Related Macular Degeneration

Patients with acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) have a four-fold increase in their risk of developing intermediate-stage age-related macular degeneration (AMD) compared to people of the same age who are not infected with HIV.
LCA is an inherited disorder that causes vision loss in childhood. It primarily affects the functioning of the retina, the light-sensitive tissue at the back of the eye, as shown here. Photo credit: National Eye Institute

NIH-funded Study Points Way Forward for Retinal Disease Gene Therapy

Gene therapy for Leber congenital amaurosis (LCA), an inherited disorder that causes vision loss starting in childhood, improved patients’ eyesight and the sensitivity of the retina within weeks of treatment.
Artist's rendering of neural activity in the retina. Light that enters the eye activates rod and cone photoreceptors, which in turn activate retinal ganglion cells. Signals travel to the brain via retinal ganglion cell axons. Photo credit: National Eye Institute.

NIH Launches Research to Gaze Deeply Into Your Eyes

Five bold projects will develop new technology to noninvasively image cells of the eye in unprecedented detail.The National Eye Institute (NEI) announced the awards as part of its Audacious Goals Initiative.
Eye Examination

Early Tight Blood Glucose Control Reduces Eye Surgeries in People with Type 1 Diabetes

People with type 1 diabetes who intensively control their blood glucose (blood sugar) early in their disease, versus those who do not, are 48 percent less likely to need eye surgery, and the total number of such surgeries is 37 percent less.
Grantee News

Rare Mutation Causes Vitamin A Deficiency and Eye Deformities

Researchers at the University of Michigan and UC Davis have solved a genetic mystery that has afflicted three unrelated families, and possibly others, for generations.