Friday, February 17, 2017

THE PROMISE OF “OPTOGENETIC GOGGLES” TO RESTORE SIGHT


Two new startup companies have announced they will begin clinical trials of high-tech goggles that, when combined with the emerging technology of optogenetics, may have the capacity to restore sight to some individuals.

According to a report in the MIT Technology Review [link], researchers hope the combination of wearable electronics and gene therapy may restore vision by re-creating the retina’s ability to sense light.   

GenSight Biologics of Paris [link] and Bionic Sight, based at of Weill Cornell Medical College in New York, will soon begin testing patients who have the degenerative eye retinitis pigmentosa, a condition which destroys photoreceptors, the light-sensing cells in the retina. If successful, te approach could lead to treatment of other types of retinal diseases that involves the loss of photoreceptors.

Optogenetics is a type of gene therapy that bypasses damaged photoreceptors and stimulates other kinds of retinal cells so that they become sensitive to light. The visor-like goggles are used to beam high-intensity light into the eye causing the modified cell stimulation.

The goggles, developed by The Institut de la Vision in Paris [link], include a camera, a mircro processor, and a digital micro mirror. The device converts the images the camera captures into bright pulses of red light in order to stimulate the modified cells.

This combination of technologies has been successful tested in blind monkeys and rats. Soon tests will begin with human volunteers.

Initial tests of optogenetics began in 2016 by RetroSense Therapeutics, a company based in Texas. In that study, a blind woman became first person to receive an optogenetic treatment to help restore her vision. Four more patients are now enrolled in the trials. No results have been reported yet.

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