NEI Research News

Researchers seeking to unravel the mysteries of how our amazingly complex brains do what they do, often start with the eye. The retina, the light-sensing tissue at the back of the eye has long been a model for scientists to explore how the brain works.

A new study from the George Washington University finds that in some parts of the developing brain, the inhibitory neurons cause excitation rather than suppression of brain activity, which could have implications for the treatment of neonatal seizures.

New NEI-supported research provides insight into the eye conditions associated with Marfan syndrome, where weakened zonule fibers cause vision problems.

Using human stem cell models, researchers at Indiana University School of Medicine found they could analyze deficits within cells damaged by glaucoma, with the potential to use this information to develop new strategies to slow the disease process.

Researchers who made a knock-in mouse-model of the genetic disorder retinitis pigmentosa 59, or RP59, found no retinal degeneration or thinning, calling into question the commonly accepted mechanism for RP59.

Caltech researchers have combined tools from machine learning and neuroscience to discover that the brain uses a mathematical system to organize visual objects according to their principal components. The work was published June 3 in Nature.

University of Maryland-led study identified the first gene responsible for eye loss in cavefish, revealing connection to a human vascular disease.

Researchers at Thomas Jefferson University finds that the eye launches an immune response in the lens after injury. After injury to the cornea, immune cells travel from the ciliary body to the lens along fibers known as ciliary zonules.

Researchers at the Max Planck Florida Institute for Neuroscience identify three distinct cortical representations that develop independent of visual experience but undergo experience-dependent reshaping, an essential part of cortical network maturation.

Biomedical engineers at Duke University have devised a new imaging device capable of measuring the various layers of the retina at the back of the eye, which could be used to detect Alzheimer's disease.