/PRNewswire/ The Foundation Fighting Blindness, the world s leading organization committed to finding treatments and cures for blinding retinal diseases,.
It s just amazing : How this gene therapy helped a blind man start to see
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A blind man regained partial sight after undergoing a gene therapy known as optogenetics and using a pair of specialized goggles, according to a breakthrough case study published in
Nature Medicine.
According to the
New York Times, the human eye generates images when light hits the retina, where photoreceptor cells convert the light into electrical signals they send to neighboring ganglion cells. Those ganglion cells then use the optic nerve to send those signals to the brain, which converts the information into images.
However, roughly two million people worldwide suffer from a collection of progressive, hereditary diseases together called retinitis pigmentosa in which different gene mutations cause photoceptor cells to die off, eventually causing blindness.
Adobe
Somewhere in Paris, in a white room, seated at a white table, a man wearing a headset reminiscent of those worn by VR gamers reached out with his right hand and placed his fingers on a black notebook. This simple motion, which he executed with confidence, was notable for one very important reason: The man had been blind for close to four decades.
What was different now was that as part of a clinical trial, genes had been injected into one of his eyes, causing neurons in the retina to produce a light-sensing protein normally found in the slimy bodies of green algae. When the black goggles he was wearing projected video images of his surroundings as a pulsed light beam onto those now-light-sensitive cells, the neurons fired, and the signal traveled up the optic nerve and into the visual processing center of the brain. The genetically modified neurons had become stand-ins for the photoreceptors he had lost many years before to a genetic disease called retinitis pigmentosa.
From veterans to kids, the Petty Family Foundation has been giving out big checks for years! Author: Tanya Rivera Updated: 6:24 PM EDT May 19, 2021
GREENSBORO, N.C. You know Richard Petty as The King of racing. He s easily identifiable with his signature boots, blue jeans, and that cowboy hat. But something else you notice instantly is his smile. He s one of the friendliest people you ll meet.
The King of racing is also the king of hearts. For years his foundation, the Petty Family Foundation has raised money for the community. The Blue Jeans & Boots fundraiser is one of the many events, and this year, it s back!