News Focus Channel: NIH Eye Inst Grants

Long-Term Antiviral Use is Key to Ocular Shingles Treatment

Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania — Sat, 19 Oct 2024 09:45:00 EST

Year-long use of a typical antiviral treatment for shingles was particularly impactful in reducing complications when the condition eventually affected the eye

Retinal Photoreceptors Use Dual Pathways to Tell Brain 'I've Seen the Light!'

Johns Hopkins Medicine — Thu, 25 Jan 2024 12:05:27 EST

Working with mammalian retinal cells, neuroscientists at Johns Hopkins Medicine have shown that, unlike most light-sensing cells (photoreceptors) in the retina, one special type uses two different pathways at the same time to transmit electrical "vision" signals to the brain.

Mega-analysis identifies gene variants associated with glaucoma in people of African ancestry

Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania — Thu, 18 Jan 2024 11:00:00 EST

Analysis aims to fill knowledge gaps and help guide clinical decisions for a group particularly vulnerable to developing glaucoma

Study Finds AI-Driven Eye Exams Increase Screening Rates for Youth with Diabetes

Johns Hopkins Medicine — Thu, 11 Jan 2024 08:05:32 EST

A Johns Hopkins Children's Center study of children and youth with diabetes concludes that so-called autonomous artificial intelligence (AI) diabetic eye exams significantly increase completion rates of screenings designed to prevent potentially blinding diabetes eye diseases (DED).

Transparent brain implant can read deep neural activity from the surface

University of California San Diego — Thu, 11 Jan 2024 05:00:00 EST

Researchers at the University of California San Diego have developed a neural implant that provides information about activity deep inside the brain while sitting on its surface.

Study Identifies 'Visual System' Protein for Circadian Rhythm Stability

Johns Hopkins Medicine — Wed, 27 Dec 2023 11:00:37 EST

Scientists at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and the National Institutes of Health have identified a protein in the visual system of mice that appears to be key for stabilizing the body's circadian rhythms by buffering the brain's response to light.

Short-Term Use of Immunosuppressants Not Linked to Cancer Risk

University of Pittsburgh — Mon, 21 Aug 2023 19:05:54 EST

Relatively short-term use of immunosuppressant medications to control an inflammatory disease was not associated with an increased risk of later developing cancer, according to new research.

VUMC receives $28 million to lead national study of COVID-diabetes link

Vanderbilt University Medical Center — Wed, 02 Aug 2023 13:55:23 EST

Researchers at Vanderbilt University Medical Center have received a four-year, $28 million grant from the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, part of the National Institutes of Health, to study the relationship between COVID-19 and diabetes.

Researchers Unravel Why Episodes of Low Blood Sugar Worsen Eye Disease in People with Diabetes

Johns Hopkins Medicine — Thu, 26 Jan 2023 09:00:56 EST

People with diabetes who experience periods of low blood sugar -- a common occurrence in those new to blood sugar management -- are more likely to have worsening diabetic eye disease. Now, researchers at Johns Hopkins Medicine say they have linked such low blood sugar levels with a molecular pathway that is turned on in oxygen-starved cells in the eye.

3D map reveals DNA organization within human retina cells

NIH, National Eye Institute (NEI) — Fri, 07 Oct 2022 05:00:00 EST

National Eye Institute researchers mapped the organization of human retinal cell chromatin, the fibers that package 3 billion nucleotide-long DNA molecules into compact structures that fit into chromosomes within each cell's nucleus. The resulting comprehensive gene regulatory network provides insights into regulation of gene expression in general, and in retinal function, in both rare and common eye diseases. The study published in Nature Communications.

Black Patients Found Six Times More Likely to Have Advanced Vision Loss After Glaucoma Diagnosis Than White Patients

Mount Sinai Health System — Mon, 25 Jul 2022 13:00:00 EST

Black patients have a dramatically higher risk of advanced vision loss after a new diagnosis of primary open angle glaucoma (POAG) when compared to white patients, according to a new study from New York Eye and Ear Infirmary of Mount Sinai (NYEE).

New Color-Coded Test Quickly Reveals If Medical Nanoparticles Deliver Their Payload

Johns Hopkins Medicine — Wed, 05 Jan 2022 14:00:48 EST

Johns Hopkins Medicine researchers have developed a color-coded test that quickly signals whether newly developed nanoparticles -- ultra small compartments designed to ferry medicines, vaccines and other therapies -- deliver their cargo into target cells. The new testing tool, engineered specifically to test nanoparticles, could advance the search for next-generation biological medicines.

Grants fund drug development for devastating tropical diseases

Washington University in St. Louis — Wed, 22 Dec 2021 12:05:57 EST

Researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have received two grants from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) totaling more than $5.5 million to develop new treatments for two types of devastating parasitic infections common in sub-Saharan Africa and Central and South America: river blindness and intestinal worm infections.

NIH study traces molecular link from gene to late-onset retinal degeneration

NIH, National Eye Institute (NEI) — Thu, 09 Dec 2021 05:00:00 EST

Scientists have discovered that gene therapy and the diabetes drug metformin may be potential treatments for late-onset retinal degeneration (L-ORD), a rare, blinding eye disease. Researchers from the National Eye Institute (NEI), part of the National Institutes of Health generated a "disease-in-a-dish" model to study the disease. The findings are published in Communications Biology.

Audacious projects develop imaging technology to aid eye tissue regeneration

NIH, National Eye Institute (NEI) — Thu, 22 Apr 2021 14:15:22 EST

As regenerative therapies for blinding diseases move closer to clinical trials, the National Eye Institute's functional imaging consortium, a part of the NEI Audacious Goals Initiative (AGI), is pioneering noninvasive technologies to monitor the function of the retina's light-sensing neurons and their connections to the brain.

UIC researcher awarded $10.15M to develop antibody-based dry eye treatment

University of Illinois Chicago — Tue, 09 Feb 2021 12:35:23 EST

Researchers at the University of Illinois Chicago have been awarded a five-year, $10.15 million grant to develop a broad-spectrum immunomodulatory eye drop.

Study suggests sugary diet endangers waste-eating protein crucial to cellular repair

Tufts University — Tue, 15 Dec 2020 09:20:30 EST

A high-sugar diet creates a 'double jeopardy' impact for a protein crucial to cellular housekeeping, a new study suggests. The protein offsets cell damage from sugar, but too much sugar renders it ineffective. The results may offer insight for reducing age-related degenerative disease.

Scientists Reverse Age-Related Vision Loss, Eye Damage From Glaucoma in Mice

Massachusetts Eye and Ear — Wed, 02 Dec 2020 11:00:00 EST

Proof-of-concept study represents first successful attempt to reverse the aging clock in animals through epigenetic reprogramming.

Quantum Tunneling Pushes the Limits of Self-Powered Sensors

Washington University in St. Louis — Mon, 16 Nov 2020 16:55:26 EST

Shantanu Chakrabartty's laboratory has been working to create sensors that can run on the least amount of energy. His lab has been so successful at building smaller and more efficient sensors, that they've run into a roadblock in the form of a fundamental law of physics.Sometimes, however, when you hit what appears to be an impenetrable roadblock, you just have to turn to quantum physics and tunnel through it.

FAU Researchers Receive $1.3 Million NIH Grant for Stem Cell Research

Florida Atlantic University — Wed, 14 Oct 2020 08:30:08 EST

The NIH grant will enable FAU scientists to identify the gene regulation pathways activated to program immature stem-like cells of the eye lens to attain their mature form and transparent function. The research team plans to explore the genetic and cellular mechanisms controlling developmental DNA conformational changes and will identify the transcription factors needed for eye lens formation.