A blind person can detect objects again after optogenetic treatment

Doctors performed genetic therapy to add a light-sensing molecule to a human eye. The gene they added, called a grimson, comes from a single-celled algae species that is able to perceive and go into sunlight.

The idea of ​​adding the gene, Roska says, is to design retinal cells called ganglia so that they can respond to light so that visual signals can be sent to the brain.

Strategies funded by the French company GenSight Biologics require patients to wear a set of electronic glasses that receive ambient light contrasts and then project the image onto the retina at high intensity using the exact wavelength of yellow-orange light. triggers the gimson molecule.

José-Alain Sahel, a researcher at the University of Pittsburgh, played a major role in the experiment and is the founder of GenSight, which initially did not detect any effects on the blind, but gradually saw the shape as he wore glasses. Sahel said the patient is “the first to benefit from optogenetics.”

With the training, the man noticed whether a notebook was placed on a table in front of him. He could also count the dark-colored glasses he had placed before, though not always accurately.

Optogenetics is widely used in neuroscience in animal experiments, where light-perceiving molecules are added to brain cells. Then, using light pulses delivered through fiber-optic cables, researchers can trigger specific nerves, in some cases triggering specific behaviors.

Efforts to adapt the technique as a cure for blindness began in 2016, when she became a Texas woman the first person treated with optogenetics A small RetroSense company, which was later acquired by Allergan. The results of that investigation were never publicly reported, although later Allergan officials said some patients he claimed to see the lightsuch as perceiving a bright window in a dark room.

Vedere Bio, a startup in Cambridge, Massachusetts, has also been developing optogenetic treatments.

According to Roska and Sahel, several patients have been treated in a clinical trial sponsored by GenSight, but only the man who is currently explaining the case has used glasses.

The level of visual recovery of the patient remains very limited. What you see through Google is monochromatic, and the resolution is not enough to read, nor to distinguish one object from another.

Researchers said the glasses would probably be refined and, with more training, the man will be able to see more than he does now. “It’s impossible to predict the level of vision we want to reach,” says Sahel.