As the Foundation reported back in February, the Argus II retinal prosthesis, developed by Second Sight Medical Products, received marketing approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
For those of us on the front lines of fighting blindness — whether we’re raising funds, conducting research or stand to personally benefit from the results — the device’s approval is one of the most exciting milestones in vision restoration ever achieved.
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One of the promising emerging approaches to restoring vision in people with advanced retinal diseases is a form of therapy known as optogenetics. In essence, this type of treatment restores light sensitivity — and, potentially, meaningful vision — to people who have very little, if any, vision remaining. An important benefit of optogenetics is that it should work regardless of the underlying genetic defect causing the disease. While it is too early to speculate how well optogenetics will ultimately work, we’re hoping it ends up retiring a lot of white canes. Continue Reading…
I am always pleased to hear reports on human studies for retinal diseases. And such is the case with a research poster I just reviewed at the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology (ARVO) annual meeting. It described a new clinical trial underway for a potentially life-changing gene therapy for people with autosomal recessive retinitis pigmentosa (MERTK mutations) taking place at King Khaled Eye Specialist Hospital in Saudi Arabia.
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The National Eye Institute (NEI) just announced that fighting blindness — retinal degenerations, in particular — has gotten audacious. It’s potentially life-changing news for people with these difficult conditions.
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I am excited to be reporting to you live from Seattle where about 10,000 of the world’s top eye researchers are convening for the annual meeting of the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology (ARVO). While researchers from many different ophthalmic fields are present at ARVO, it is the world’s largest gathering of retinal scientists. Continue Reading…
Retinal diseases may be incurable, at the moment, but, with the help of specialized training and technology, they are not unmanageable. In fact, a savvy patient working with a conscientious eye doctor can adjust relatively well to the various stages of vision loss — via, for instance, mobility or assistive-technology training. And in the case of wet age-related macular degeneration, or AMD, there are treatments that slow vision loss.
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A Foundation-funded research team at the University of Pennsylvania — in collaboration with scientists from Michigan State University, the University of Florida and the University of Miami — has found a remarkable way to restore function to fledgling cones, the retinal cells most critical to our daily lives. Drs. András Komáromy and Gutavo Aguirre injected a high dose of a protein called ciliary neurotrophic factor (CNTF) into the eyes of older dogs with achromatopsia, a retinal disease that causes day blindness from cone dysfunction and degeneration. What happened next is extraordinary.
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When I was 15, I was diagnosed with Usher syndrome, the leading cause of deaf-blindness in the United States. Although I’d had hearing aids since kindergarten, and could never see in dark places, it wasn’t until I started to trip over things in broad daylight that my parents became truly concerned.
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I’ve been conducting or overseeing scientific research for more than 40 years (yikes!), but I continue to be humbled by its nuances, complexities and ambiguities. Sometimes, just when you think you have something figured out, you find evidence to the contrary. Sometimes, as Vladimir Lenin said, progress is made by taking “one step back, two steps forward.”
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My ophthalmologist’s voice was firm and direct. “You’re going blind.” Tough words for a 5-year-old to digest.
Years later — despite efforts to cure my retinal disease, first as a graduate student, then as a postdoctoral researcher focused on ocular pathology — I came to accept the truth that those words carried. I was slowly being forced to adapt to a world not designed for me, or for any visually impaired person. But the progressive nature of my disease, retinitis pigmentosa, meant that time was on my side. I had time to change how I do things, how I communicate, how I think.
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Steve is highly respected for his expertise and tireless commitment to finding treatments and cures for vision-robbing retinal diseases. Read More...
As the Foundation's senior science writer, Ben writes science and research articles for the Foundation’s website, newsletters and Eye on the Cure blog. Read More...
As the Foundation's senior writer, Rich writes and edits content for all of the Foundation’s print and online publications, including its blog, Eye on the Cure. Read More...
