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Amakem receives €18m in Series A round of funding

Amakem NV today announced it has raised €18m with a syndicate of leading life sciences investors to advance its ophthalmology drug development portfolio and progress its lead candidate, AMA0076 for glaucoma, to clinical proof of concept.

6 Sep 2011

Discovery in rare disease may shed light on common causes of blindness

In a rare eye disease, the retina degenerates because light-receiving cells fail to regenerate, research led by a student at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine shows.

2 Sep 2011

Contraceptive pill prevents loss of eye sight

Scientists at University College Cork (UCC) have shown that the active component (Norgestrel) of the contraceptive 'Mini Pill' prevents the loss of sight in mice that have degenerative eye conditions that normally lead to blindness.

2 Sep 2011

Insight into molecular basis of Enhanced S-Cone Syndrome

A new research report published in The FASEB Journal will help ophthalmologists and scientists better understand a rare genetic disease that causes increased susceptibility to blue light, night blindness, and decreased vision called Enhanced S-Cone Syndrome or Goldman-Favre Syndrome.

2 Sep 2011

Guatemalan Syphilis study in 1940’s violated ethical standards: US presidential commission report

The U.S. presidential commission has found that U.S. government researchers violated ethical standards by deliberately infecting Guatemalan prison inmates and mental patients with syphilis for an experiment in the 1940s. This research did not treat Guatemalan participants as human beings and failed to inform them they were taking part in research study, calling into question the bioethics behind the study design.

31 Aug 2011

Blurred vision impairs spatial cognition in fall-prone older adults

Among older adults, falls are a common problem. About one-third of those over age 65 fall once each year. Visual information helps us to coordinate our movements so that we can successfully navigate our surroundings. In fall-prone older adults, however, the ability to collect visual information is compromised, and this group is not adequately compensating for this effect.

31 Aug 2011

Roundup: Virginia's abortion rules; Calif. rate regulation bill; Georgia's spending plans for disabled

Virginia health officials are planning to release draft emergency regulations for abortion clinics as soon as Friday that reproductive-health activists say could impose strict physical, staffing and equipment requirements and could force many of the state's clinics to close.

26 Aug 2011

RE Children's Project donates $111,000 to UCLA researchers for Rasmussen Encephalitis study

The Rasmussen Encephalitis (RE) Children's Project, a foundation that supports scientific research to find a cure for this devastating neurological disease, has donated $111,000 to researchers in the departments of neurosurgery and pathology/lab medicine (neuropathology) at Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center.

26 Aug 2011

Scientists discover mutant hypertension gene in chickens similar to that of humans

Scientists from the University of Abertay Dundee have discovered that a gene which, when severely mutated, causes blindness and kidney abnormalities in chickens, is the same as one that predisposes humans to hypertension.

25 Aug 2011

Activus to receive NEDO grant for 'Development of Innovative Ophthalmic Solutions'

Sosei Group Corporation, announces that its wholly owned subsidiary Activus Pharma Co., Ltd. is to receive a grant for its "Development of Innovative Ophthalmic Solutions" from the New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization (NEDO), an Incorporated Administrative Agency under the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) as a part of their FY2011 Innovation Promotion Programme.

22 Aug 2011

Disease mapping could help control and eliminate loiasis, other NTDs, study says

In this End the Neglect blog post, Linda Diep, communications and grassroots assistant with the Global Network for Neglected Tropical Diseases, discusses how "mapping of Loa Loa Filariasis could help in the innovation of new strategies to eliminate and control onchocerciasis and lymphatic filariasis (LF), according to a recently released article from the open-access journal PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases."

20 Aug 2011

Time-release corticosteroid implant effective in treating uveitis

A team of researchers comparing the two leading treatment approaches for the eye condition uveitis, which is the fifth leading cause of blindness in the US, have found that a time-release corticosteroid implant placed surgically in the eye is similarly effective in treating the disease as anti-inflammatory corticosteroids and immunosuppressive drugs taken orally. The report was published online this week in the journal Ophthalmology.

19 Aug 2011

Patients with diabetes, hypertension more likely to develop open-angle glaucoma

Many Americans suffer from diabetes and hypertension and, according to a study by researchers at the University of Michigan Kellogg Eye Center, these individuals may have an increased risk of developing open-angle glaucoma.

18 Aug 2011

New role for harmonin protein in Usher syndrome

University of Iowa scientists have discovered a new role for a protein that is mutated in Usher syndrome, one of the most common forms of deaf-blindness in humans. The findings, which were published Aug. 8 in Nature Neuroscience, may help explain why this mutation causes the most severe form of the condition.

16 Aug 2011

La Jolla Institute's new RNAi Center to focus on genetics behind myriad diseases

A major Center that will propel scientific efforts to pinpoint the specific genes involved in causing immune diseases, cancer and other diseases will be opened today at the La Jolla Institute for Allergy & Immunology.

12 Aug 2011

Single engineered protein blocks two related angiogenic receptors

Cancer needs blood. In fact, some cancer medications work solely to slow or prevent cancer cells from creating new capillaries, choking off their much-needed blood and nutrient supply to halt the growth of tumors.

12 Aug 2011

Scientist determines how nyctalopin gene makes night vision possible

A scientist from the Florida campus of The Scripps Research Institute has determined how a particular gene makes night vision possible. The study, which was published in the August 10, 2011 edition of The Journal of Neuroscience, focuses on a gene called nyctalopin. Mutations in the gene result in inherited "night blindness," a loss of vision in low-light environments.

10 Aug 2011

New genetic cause of retinitis pigmentosa

Combining the expertise of several different labs, University of Iowa researchers have found a new genetic cause of the blinding eye disease retinitis pigmentosa (RP) and, in the process, discovered an entirely new version of the message that codes for the affected protein.

10 Aug 2011

Researchers team up to combat age-related macular degeneration

A professor at the University of California, Riverside Bourns College of Engineering has received a $100,000 grant to develop a new technique to fight a disease that gradually destroys vision.

8 Aug 2011

NSF awards WSU researcher CAREER grant to develop neural implants

Neural implants have the potential to treat disorders and diseases that typically require long-term treatment, such as blindness, deafness, epilepsy, spinal cord injury, and Alzheimer's and Parkinson's. However, implantable devices have been problematic in clinical applications because of bodily reactions that limit device functioning time.

4 Aug 2011

Blindness News and Research

Amakem receives €18m in Series A round of funding

Discovery in rare disease may shed light on common causes of blindness

Contraceptive pill prevents loss of eye sight

Insight into molecular basis of Enhanced S-Cone Syndrome

Guatemalan Syphilis study in 1940’s violated ethical standards: US presidential commission report

Blurred vision impairs spatial cognition in fall-prone older adults

Roundup: Virginia's abortion rules; Calif. rate regulation bill; Georgia's spending plans for disabled

RE Children's Project donates $111,000 to UCLA researchers for Rasmussen Encephalitis study

Scientists discover mutant hypertension gene in chickens similar to that of humans

Activus to receive NEDO grant for 'Development of Innovative Ophthalmic Solutions'

Disease mapping could help control and eliminate loiasis, other NTDs, study says

Time-release corticosteroid implant effective in treating uveitis

Patients with diabetes, hypertension more likely to develop open-angle glaucoma

New role for harmonin protein in Usher syndrome

La Jolla Institute's new RNAi Center to focus on genetics behind myriad diseases

Single engineered protein blocks two related angiogenic receptors

Scientist determines how nyctalopin gene makes night vision possible

New genetic cause of retinitis pigmentosa

Researchers team up to combat age-related macular degeneration

NSF awards WSU researcher CAREER grant to develop neural implants

How ELRIG Is Helping Mid-Career Scientists Navigate Leadership, Career Change and Redundancy

The role of UV-Vis in biopharma QC

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