Injecting a gene therapy vector into one eye of someone suffering from LHON, the most common cause of mitochondrial blindness, significantly improves vision in both eyes, scientists have found.
A Cambridge University researcher investigating eye cell transplants in the battle against glaucoma has been awarded £200,000 by the Fight for Sight charity.
Greece was the birthplace of democracy, but our own political system would be unrecognisable to voters in Ancient Athens. As Classicist Paul Cartledge explains, however, that doesn’t mean that our ancient forbears have left us with nothing to learn.
The night vision abilities of nocturnal animals such as mice is down to the unconventional way that DNA is packaged within the nuclei of specialised cells responsible for low light vision, say Cambridge University researchers.
Pioneering research shines new light on our understanding of the way we see the world. Optical fibres have now been found to exist in vertebrate eyes, channelling light down their length and delivering it without distortion straight to the cells that ‘see’.
The common view has been that parasitic infections cause disease and must be eliminated. But can we live without them?
Progressive loss in accommodative power by the lens of the human eye – a condition known as presbyopia – affects almost everybody who enters middle age and interferes with their ability to focus on close objects. As we live longer and continue to pursue challenging visual activities, the demand for presbyopic correction is increasing.
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