Researchers advancing new ways of helping blind people see

On its front page, the New York Times reported that 38 patients from the US, Europe, and Mexico are beginning an intensive three-year research project involving electrodes surgically implanted in their eyes, a camera on the bridge of their noses, and a video processor strapped to their waists, in a burst of recent research aimed at one of science's most-sought-after holy grails: making the blind see.



Researchers involved in the project, the artificial retina, say they have plans to develop the technology to allow people to read, write and recognize faces. Meanwhile, other approaches to treating blindness include gene therapy, which has produced improved vision in people who are blind from one rare congenital disease. Stem cell research is considered promising, although far from producing results, and other studies involve a light-responding protein and retinal transplants.

Posted in: Blindness, Conditions and Diseases, Gene therapy, Research, Retina, stem cell