Small Steps Towards Restored Sight
Medical News Today notes that researcher seek "to equip cells of the retina with photoswitches, essentially making blind nerve cells see, restoring light sensitivity in people with degenerative blindness such as macular degeneration. ... The researchers demonstrated in 2004 that they could turn cultured nerve cells on and off with this optical switch. Since then [they've] injected photoswitches into the eyes of rats that have a disease that kills their rods and cones, and have restored some light sensitivity to the remaining retinal cells. ... Their group, centered around the optical control of biological function, will develop viruses that can carry the photoswitches into the correct cells ... We plan to develop the tools to create a new layer of optically active cells for the retina."
Link: http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/medicalnews.php?newsid=55573