Blindness News and Research

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Breakthrough Discovery about Glaucoma could Lead to New Treatments

Researchers at the University of South Florida (USF) have made a ground-breaking discovery about how pressure is moderated in the eye that may pave the way for advances in the diagnosis and treatment of glaucoma.

13 Jan 2020

Survey uncovers key gaps in American's knowledge of eye health

A survey conducted by The Harris Poll has uncovered key gaps in American's knowledge of eye health, and what they don't know is putting them at risk of vision loss.

13 Jan 2020

New method for fabricating collagen fibrils facilitates research on the eye’s repair process

Cells called corneal keratocytes are innately programmed to come to the rescue if the eye is injured. This natural healing process sometimes fails, however, resulting in scarring and blindness. Scientists are still trying to understand why.

9 Jan 2020

Researchers report first structural model for key enzyme associated with inherited eye diseases

Researchers at the University of New Hampshire have reported the first structural model for a key enzyme, and its activating protein, that can play a role in some genetically inherited eye diseases like retinitis pigmentosa and night blindness.

8 Jan 2020

The first clinical trials of CRISPR gene editing have shown promising results

Results of clinical trials testing CRISPR suggest that treating diseases with the gene-editing tool may be on the horizon.

7 Jan 2020

A reality check on artificial intelligence: Are health care claims overblown?

Health products powered by artificial intelligence, or AI, are streaming into our lives, from virtual doctor apps to wearable sensors and drugstore chatbots.

30 Dec 2019

New discovery has implications for better restoration of sight in AMD patients

Macular degeneration causes blindness in millions of people in the Western world. It is the most common cause of severe vision loss in the Western world among those aged 50 and over, and its prevalence increases with age.

26 Dec 2019

A future approach to diabetes care

In Belize, where diabetes is rampant, patients need insulin every day to maintain proper blood sugar levels. But if people lack electricity or a refrigerator, they cannot store insulin at home.

18 Dec 2019

Harvard scientists demonstrate possible strategy for achieving herpes virus control

The herpes simplex virus, commonly known as the cold sore virus, is a devious microbe.

12 Dec 2019

Jefferson hotspotting program uses team-based model to addresses hospital 'super utilizers'

The United States faces a crisis in providing complex care for high-need, high-cost individuals--people who often suffer economic, mental and physical challenges.

11 Dec 2019

UIC researchers to study the impact of chronic eye disease among Latinos

With $9.7 million in funding from the National Eye Institute, researchers at the University of Illinois at Chicago will study the impact of chronic eye disease among Latinos.

10 Dec 2019

Nanosize container can slip inside cells and deliver medicines, gene therapies

Scientists at Johns Hopkins Medicine report they have created a tiny, nanosize container that can slip inside cells and deliver protein-based medicines and gene therapies of any size - even hefty ones attached to the gene-editing tool called CRISPR.

6 Dec 2019

Scientists test repurposed drugs for treatment of rare eye condition

Fight for Sight is funding scientists from the University of Aberdeen to test two repurposed drugs for the treatment of the rare eye condition aniridia, which causes blindness.

6 Dec 2019

As his wife’s caregiver, a doctor discovers what’s missing at health care’s core

Caring for someone with a serious illness stretches people spiritually and emotionally, often beyond what they might have thought possible.

5 Dec 2019

Samoa shuts down country for mass measles vaccinations

The Pacific island nation of Samoa will shut down its government services for two days while officials try to stem a deadly measles outbreak that killed 53, 48 of whom were children between 0 and 4 years old and sickened 3,728 people.

3 Dec 2019

Zebrafish study supports accuracy of CRISPR-Cas9 gene editing tool

Along with the promise that CRISPR-Cas9 gene editing technology can offer new human therapies is the need to ensure its safety. A recent study showed that CRISPR-Cas9 did not produce off-target gene mutations in zebrafish. These results, published in Frontiers in Genetics, confirm previous data in animal models that the risk to the rest of the genome from gene editing is minimal.

3 Dec 2019