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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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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.
Images of the brain generated by diffusion tensor imaging, a type of MRI. The red highlights show visual pathways in the brain that deteriorate in patients with LCA, but appear to improve with gene therapy to the retina. Credit: Dr. Manzar Ashtari, University of Pennsylvania.

With LCA Gene Therapy, a Rare Glimpse of the Adult Brain Adapting to New Experience

When people lose the ability to see, how do the visual parts of the brain change in response? And if they regain their sight, are the changes reversed?
Children who slept near a cooking fire were four times as likely to develop severe trachoma compared with children who slept in ventilated rooms without cooking fires. This child’s severe trachoma led to loss of vision in his left eye. Photo courtesy of Raul Vasquez/Orbis.

Trachoma Risk Tied to Sleeping Near Cooking Fires, Lack of Ventilation

Children who sleep in unventilated rooms with cooking fires are at greater risk for severe trachoma, a leading cause of preventable blindness in developing countries.
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.
Grantee News

A World Without Color – Researchers Find Gene Mutation That Strips Color, Reduces Vision

Researchers have identified a previously unknown gene mutation that underlies achromatopsia, an inherited eye disorder.

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