by Tom Hoglund July 2000 In the July issue of Nature Genetics, Foundation Fighting Blindness-supported researchers used gene replacement therapy to treat a rodent model of retinal degeneration. This is the first published study to show that gene replacement therapy can restore function to photoreceptor cells. These findings also demonstrate that gene replacement therapy can [Read More]
News
Researchers Restore Vision In an Animal Model of Childhood Blindness
By Tom Hoglund Information Officer, Foundation Fighting Blindness July 2000 In a ground breaking study published in the July issue of The Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, researchers rapidly restored lost vision in a mouse model of Leber congenital amaurosis (LCA) using oral doses of a chemical compound derived from vitamin A. LCA [Read More]
Artificial Retina Implanted in Humans
by Tom Hoglund Information Officer, Foundation Fighting Blindness For the first time ever, researchers from a company called Optobionics surgically implanted an artificial retina into three patients who are blind from retinitis pigmentosa. These highly-experimental prosthetic devices, made of silicon computer chips, are intended to restore ambulatory vision, thereby giving people the freedom to walk [Read More]
Information on Bilberry and other Bioflavinoids
by Linda Kaspari July 2000 Billberry, Huckleberries, cranberry, grape seed, elderberry and pine bark extract are Anthocyanidin Bioflavonoids. These bioflavonoids are particulary effective in strengthening capillaries. Patients should include vitamin C and bioflavonoids as part of a lifetime regimen to help prevent progressive loss of sight. Essential for proper absorption and use of vitamin C, [Read More]
Foundation Researchers Restore Vision in Canine Model of Childhood Blindness
by Tom Hoglund In one of the single most important advances in the history of retinal degeneration research, a group of Foundation Fighting Blindness-supported scientists used gene therapy to restore vision in a canine model of severe childhood blindness, known clinically as Leber congenital amaurosis (LCA). This finding, published in the May issue of Nature [Read More]