
Millions of adults over age 50 struggle each year with vision loss caused by damage to the retina or common macular degeneration.
Physics researchers at The University of Texas at Arlington have developed a new platform that uses ultrafast near-infrared lasers to deliver gene therapy to damaged areas of the retina to enable vision restoration in patients with photo-degenerative diseases.
“Most therapies focus on slowing down or halting degeneration but cannot target already-damaged areas of the retina,” said Samarenda Mohanty, assistant professor of physics and head of UTA’s Biophysics and Physiology Group, who led the research. “Our capacity to specifically target these damaged areas cell by cell opens up a new world of possibilities for vision restoration.”
Mohanty demonstrated the effectiveness of the new method in a recent article published by the Nature journal Light: Science & Applications. In his study, Mohanty and his team compared their ultrafast near-infrared laser-based method of delivering genes with the popular non-viral chemical gene delivery system known as lipofection.
The laser-based method creates a transient sub-mircometer hole that allows the gene for light-sensitive proteins, or opsins, to permeate into the damaged retinal cell. The genes are then activated to produce the opsins, which attach to the cell membrane and convert external light into the photocurrent signals that are basis of sight.
In Mohanty’s experiments, the laser-based method gave better results than chemical gene delivery in terms of the amount of opsins produced and the number expressed on the membrane of the cell. It was also able to target cells one by one where the chemical gene delivery system cannot be that specific.
Furthermore, the laser-based method was also able to effectively deliver large packages of genes encoding a wide spectrum of colors to damaged retinal cells, which could enable broadband vision restoration in patients with photo-degenerative diseases.
With aging populations in many countries, the number of macular degeneration sufferers is expected to reach 196 million worldwide by 2020 and increase to 288 million by 2040, according to The Lancet.
Read more: UTA PHYSICISTS OFFER HOPE FOR MACULAR DEGENERATION SUFFERERS
The Latest on: Macular Degeneration
[google_news title=”” keyword=”Macular Degeneration” num_posts=”10″ blurb_length=”0″ show_thumb=”left”]
via Google News
The Latest on: Macular Degeneration
- EyePoint Pharmaceuticals Reports Second Quarter 2024 Financial Results and Highlights Recent Corporate Developmentson August 7, 2024 at 4:00 am
Phase 3 LUGANO pivotal non-inferiority clinical trial of DURAVYU™ in wet AMD on track for first patient dosing in 2024 – – Positive twelve-month data from Phase 2 DAVIO 2 clinical trial evaluating ...
- Ocular Therapeutix™ Announces FDA Feedback That SOL-R Trial is Appropriate as a Registrational Study in Wet AMDon August 7, 2024 at 4:00 am
Clear Regulatory Path for AXPAXLI™ in Wet AMD Through Ongoing SOL-1 and SOL-R Registration-Enabling Trials Ocular to Host a Q2 2024 Conference Call and Webcast Today, August 7th, at 8:00 AM ET BEDFORD ...
- Management of Choroidal Neovascularization in Myopic Macular Degenerationon August 5, 2024 at 4:59 pm
Based on the scientific progress achieved in the past few years, it is possible that patients with myopic macular degeneration complicated by CNV may benefit from a new ophthalmic frontier of ...
- How to Prevent Macular Degenerationon August 3, 2024 at 9:48 am
Macular degeneration, or age-related macular degeneration (AMD), is a form of vision loss that affects your ability to see things in the center of your vision. Some people a higher risk of developing ...
- New Drugs Could Reduce AMD Treatment Burdenon August 1, 2024 at 6:31 am
Emerging predictive tools and novel therapeutic approaches could reduce eye injections for patients with dry and wet age-related macular degeneration.
- Ionis axes eye disease from targets of Roche-partnered prospect after data disappointon August 1, 2024 at 5:06 am
Another of Ionis Pharmaceuticals’ key midphase readouts has fallen short of expectations, prompting the biotech to ...
- Daily Supplements May Slow ‘Dry’ Form of Age-Related Macular Degenerationon July 29, 2024 at 7:47 am
A formulation of over-the-counter antioxidant supplements may help prevent the progression of dry age-related macular degeneration, a new study finds.
- Macular Degeneration?on July 23, 2024 at 4:21 am
Macular degeneration is the most common cause of age-related vision loss in older adults. In a healthy eye, light travels through the pupil and hits the retina, the inner back layer of your eye.
- Daily Supplements May Slow 'Dry' Form of Macular Degenerationon July 21, 2024 at 10:36 pm
MONDAY, July 22, 2024 (HealthDay News) -- Daily supplements can slow loss of vision related to late-stage “dry” age-related macular degeneration (AMD), a new study finds. The rate of dry AMD ...
- How to prevent and treat age-related macular degenerationon July 7, 2024 at 5:00 pm
Is macular degeneration hereditary? My mother lost much of her vision from it before she died, and now at age 65, I’m concerned I may get it too. What can you tell me — Brown Eyed Betty Dear ...
via Bing News