FENS 2020: vision restoration achieved using nanotechnology, cell reprograming and optogenetics

Researchers are developing new ways to treat age-related blindness by using visual prostheses including polymers, graphene, cell reprograming and optogenetic therapy. These concepts, which have been presented at the FENS Virtual Forum of Neuroscience (11–15 July), will hopefully help with vision restoration in people with conditions such as macular degeneration, retinitis pigmentosa and glaucoma. One study led by Fabio Benfenati (Italian Institute of Technology) has used solar cells to make tiny biological devices made of polymer, which have been implanted onto the diseased retinas of rats. These engineered nanoparticles were microinjected into a blind eye that has lost photoreceptors, resulting...