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NEI Research News

Thanks to the work of NEI scientists and grantees, we’re constantly learning new information about the causes and treatment of vision disorders. Get the latest updates about their work — along with other news about NEI.

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The findings suggest that people may be able to lower their risk of AMD by eating a healthy diet, exercising and by not smoking.

Diet, Exercise, Smoking Habits and Genes Interact to Affect AMD Risk

People with a genetic predisposition for age-related macular degeneration (AMD) significantly increased their odds of developing the blinding eye disorder if they had a history of smoking and did not exercise or eat enough fruits and vegetables.
Grantee News

Identified Genetic Interaction Offers Possible New Target for Glaucoma Therapy

Scientists at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine have elucidated a genetic interaction that may prove key to the development and progression of glaucoma.
Object motion and amacrine cells in retina

Circuit in the Eye Relies on Built-In Delay to See Small Moving Objects

When we move our head, the whole visual world moves across our eyes. Yet we can still make out a bee buzzing by or a hawk flying overhead, thanks to unique cells in the eye called object motion sensors.
Schematic of microbiota interacting with ocular immune system.

In Uveitis, Bacteria in Gut May Instruct Immune Cells to Attack the Eye

The inflammatory eye disorder autoimmune uveitis occurs when a person’s immune system goes awry, attacking proteins in the eye.
Grantee News

New clues found to vision loss in macular degeneration​​​

Scientists at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have identified a pathway that leads to the formation of atypical blood vessels that can cause blindness in people with age-related macular degeneration.
Mice with AQP0 mutations (top) had disorderly fiber cells compared to mice with healthy AQP0.

Defective Lens Protein Implicated in Cataract Shown Culprit in Presbyopia

Loss or defects of a protein previously shown to play a key a role in cataract, the clouding of the lens that commonly strikes people in their seventies, has now been shown to contribute to presbyopia.
A microglial cell (green) extends spider-like arms to capture and consume rod photoreceptor cells (blue). Credit: Dr. Wai Wong, NEI.

In Blinding Eye Disease, Trash-Collecting Cells go Awry, Accelerate Damage

Spider-like cells inside the brain, spinal cord and eye hunt for invaders, capturing and then devouring them. These cells, called microglia, often play a beneficial role by helping to clear trash and protect the central nervous system against infection.
still from DR eye exam animation

Study Finds Potential New Drug Target for Diabetic Eye Disease

Researchers funded in part by the National Eye Institute (NEI) have identified a protein involved in an advanced stage of diabetic retinopathy, a diabetic eye disease that threatens vision.
Ebola virus, isolated in November 2014 from patient blood samples obtained in Mali. The virus was isolated on Vero cells in a BSL-4 suite at NIAID Rocky Mountain Laboratories. Credit: NIAID

Study of Ebola Survivors Opens in Liberia

The Liberia-U.S. clinical research partnership known as PREVAIL has launched a study of people in Liberia who have survived Ebola virus disease (EVD) within the past two years.
Grantee News

Eye’s motion detection sensors identified

Researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have identified a neural circuit in the retina that enable the eye to detect movement.

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