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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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Dr. Brian Brooks

NEI's Brooks elected to elite physician-scientist organization

Dr. Brian Brooks of NEI has been elected into one of the nation’s most respected medical honor societies, the American Society for Clinical Investigation (ASCI).
The retina has several layers of nerve cells. Photoreceptors (top, in green) are responsible for detecting light and converting it into electrical signals. Image courtesy of Wei Li, Ph.D., Unit on Retinal Neurophysiology, National Eye Institute.

Within sight: Light-activated drugs for restoring vision

Researchers have made progress toward an approach that would use light-sensitive drugs to stimulate cells in the retina and restore vision to people who are blind or visually impaired.
An experimental contact lens design releases a glaucoma medicine at a steady rate for up to a month. Credit: Peter Mallen, Massachusetts Eye and Ear Laboratory/Kohane Laboratory, Boston Children's Hospital.

An Experimental Contact Lens to Prevent Glaucoma-Induced Blindness

Like a miniature donut stuffed inside a tiny pita pocket, a common glaucoma medicine is sandwiched inside this specially designed contact lens.
Grantee News

Expanding our view of vision

Using a new approach, MIT researchers scanned individuals’ brains as they looked at different images and were able to pinpoint, to the millisecond, when the brain recognizes and categorizes an object, and where these processes occur.
Cross section of retina and optic nerve

Glaucoma: The 'silent thief' begins to tell its secrets

Glaucoma is sometimes called the “silent thief of sight” because it slowly damages the eyes and can cause irreparable harm before there is any vision loss.
Grantee News

Parkinson's drugs could provide new avenue to treat diabetes-related vision problems

Dopamine-restoring drugs already used to treat Parkinson's disease may also be beneficial for the treatment of diabetic retinopathy, a leading cause of blindness in adults, Emory University researchers have discovered.
Grantee News

Light Exposure During Pregnancy Key to Normal Eye Development

Blood vessels that normally regress in mice before the eyelids open 10 days after birth persist if the mouse fetus receives insufficient light in the womb — showing that the eye needs light to develop during pregnancy.
Dr. Krzysztof Palczewski

Translational research through teamwork

Imagine you are building a house. You would need a team of specialists, including an architect, a general contractor, carpenters, an electrician, a plumber and many others.
brain logo

NIH announces six funding opportunities for the BRAIN Initiative in fiscal year 2014

The National Institutes of Health is releasing funding opportunities to build a new arsenal of tools and technologies for unlocking the mysteries of the brain.

NIH-funded study finds donor age not a factor in most corneal transplants

Ten years after a transplant, a cornea from a 71-year-old donor is likely to remain as healthy as a cornea from a donor half that age, according to the Cornea Donor Study.