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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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Grantee News

3D structure solved for vulnerable region of glaucoma-causing protein

Scientists at Georgia Tech have determined the three-dimensional structure of a key part of a protein that is associated with glaucoma and identified regions of this domain that correlate with severe forms of the disease.
Grantee News

Stem Cell Injection May Soon Reverse Vision Loss Caused By Age-Related Macular Degeneration

An injection of stem cells into the eye may soon slow or reverse the effects of early-stage age-related macular degeneration, according to new research from scientists at Cedars-Sinai.
Cross-sectional images of retina from retinoschisin-deficient mice, untreated and treated with XLRS gene therapy.

NEI Human Gene Therapy Trial for Retinoschisis Underway

The National Eye Institute (NEI) recently launched the first-ever human gene therapy trial for the vision disorder X-linked retinoschisis (XLRS). Researchers are conducting the trial at the National Institutes of Health Clinical Research Center in...
Grantee News

LSU Health New Orleans Makes Discovery Key to Preventing Blindness and Stroke Devastation

Researchers at the Louisiana State University Neuroscience Center of Excellence have discovered gene interactions that determine whether cells live or die in such conditions as age-related macular degeneration and ischemic stroke.
Grantee News

Results challenge conventional wisdom about where the brain begins processing visual information

Using high-resolution functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), a team of researchers from Vanderbilt and Boston universities, have discovered that more complex processing occurs in the initial stages of the visual system than previously thought.
Grantee News

​Stem Cells from Wisdom Teeth Can Be Transformed into Corneal Cells

Stem cells from the dental pulp of wisdom teeth can be coaxed to turn into cells of the eye’s cornea and could one day be used to repair corneal scarring due to infection or injury.
Illustration showing the retina as seen through a dilated pupil.

Eylea outperforms other drugs for diabetic macular edema with moderate or worse vision loss

In an NIH-supported clinical trial comparing three drugs for diabetic macular edema (DME), Eylea (aflibercept) provided greater visual improvement, on average, than did Avastin (bevacizumab) or Lucentis (ranibizumab) when vision was 20/50 or worse.
If a study participant were instructed to pay attention to “scenes” and he was attending well, he would be shown the top image as a reward. As his attention lapsed, the middle and bottom images would be shown. The face in the photograph is that of the study’s first author, Megan deBettencourt, a doctoral candidate at the Princeton Neuroscience Institute.

Brain Training May Bolster Visual Attention

People are bad at staying focused. We’ve all had our minds wander when we try to concentrate on a task that requires paying close attention but isn’t all that engaging.
Grantee News

Tufts University Researchers Identify Mechanism Involved in Causing Cataracts in Mice

A team of scientists has established that a breakdown in communication between two biochemical pathways in the eye is involved in causing cataracts.
Degenerated RPE cells from mice with geographic atrophy are shown at left. Treating the mice with NRTIs protected the RPE cells. Photos courtesy of Jayakrishna Ambati, M.D.

HIV drugs show promise for “dry” AMD

A class of medications long used to curb HIV infection shows promise as a therapy for age-related macular degeneration (AMD), suggest findings from an NIH-funded study.

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