Researchers report that a new treatment for retinitis pigmentosa (RP), a previously irreversible degenerative eye disease that affects 2 million people around the world, was able to restore partial vision to patients.
The study was published Monday in the journal Nature Medicine. In people with RP, gene mutations cause the slow deterioration of the eye's rod-shaped photoreceptors, so visual information is no longer delivered to the brain. Led by Dr. José-Alain Sahel, a professor of ophthalmology at Sorbonne University and the University of Pittsburgh, researchers took a closer look at ChrimsonR, a protein that triggers electrical activity and makes cells able to absorb light.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
-
Elon has his 'Legion.' How will Republicans encourage other Americans to have babies?Today's Big Question The pronatalist movement finds itself in power
-
How to travel with your dogThe Week Recommends These tips will help both of you have a great time
-
'Congress could help by providing federal protections'Instant Opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
-
Scientists find hint of alien life on distant worldSpeed Read NASA's James Webb Space Telescope has detected a possible signature of life on planet K2-18b
-
Katy Perry, Gayle King visit space on Bezos rocketSpeed Read Six well-known women went into lower orbit for 11 minutes
-
Scientists map miles of wiring in mouse brainSpeed Read Researchers have created the 'largest and most detailed wiring diagram of a mammalian brain to date,' said Nature
-
Scientists genetically revive extinct 'dire wolves'Speed Read A 'de-extinction' company has revived the species made popular by HBO's 'Game of Thrones'
-
Dark energy may not doom the universe, data suggestsSpeed Read The dark energy pushing the universe apart appears to be weakening
-
Life after space: how will Nasa's stranded astronauts cope?In the Spotlight Sunita 'Suni' Williams and Barry 'Butch' Wilmore are headed back to Earth after nine months on the ISS – but their greatest challenge may still lie ahead
-
Pharaoh's tomb discovered for first time in 100 yearsSpeed Read This is the first burial chamber of a pharaoh unearthed since Tutankhamun in 1922
-
Scientists report optimal method to boil an eggSpeed Read It takes two temperatures of water to achieve and no fancy gadgets
