Gene Therapy Might Restore Optic Nerve Function

"Research from Boston Children's Hospital suggests the possibility of restoring at least some visual function in people blinded by optic nerve damage from glaucoma... or from trauma," reports Medical News Today. "As reported online January 14 by the journal Cell, the scientists restored vision in mice with optic nerve injury by using gene therapy to get the nerves to regenerate and -- the crucial step -- adding a channel-blocking drug to help the nerves conduct impulses from the eye to the brain. In the future, they believe, the same effect could be achieved with drugs alone." Read more.

Field Hockey Injuries Tumble, Says New Study

"A study conducted by researchers at Hasbro Children's Hospital, Boston Children's Hospital, Fairfax (VA) County Public Schools and the University of Colorado School of Medicine has found that nationally mandated protective eyewear results in a greater than three-fold reduced risk of eye and orbital injuries in high school (HS) girls' field hockey players without increasing rates of concussion." That's the word from Science Digest. Read more.

CLs to Deliver Glaucoma Med

Researchers at Massachusetts Eye and Ear/Harvard Medical School Department of Ophthalmology, Boston Children's Hospital, and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology have moved closer to developing a drug-eluting contact lens designed for prolonged delivery of latanoprost, commonly used to treat glaucoma. Using FDA-approved materials, the researchers created the CLs by encapsulating latanoprost-polymer films in hydrogel. Their findings are described online and will be in the January 2014 printed issue of Biomaterials. Read the NIH abstract. Read a PDF version of the study at Science Direct.

Only a day ago, researchers announced that they had mapped the molecular underpinnings of glaucoma. Read the blog post.