New PRA gene identified in Phalenes and Papillons
Finnish researchers have identified a genetic mutation causing progressive retinal atrophy (PRA) in the Phalene and Papillon dog breeds. PRA is one of the most common causes of blindness in dogs and in...
View ArticleA novel locus identified for glaucoma in Dandie Dinmont Terrier dog breed
Professor Hannes Lohi's research group at the University of Helsinki and Folkhälsan Research Center, Finland, has identified a novel locus for glaucoma in Dandie Dinmont Terrier. The locus on canine...
View ArticleBocelli visits MIT for adaptive tech workshop
Italian classical singer Andrea Bocelli says he might one day get to use the tools that researchers around the world are developing with support from the foundation that bears his name.
View ArticleRetinal scanner that fits in a purse
A person can be identified unambiguously based on his or her retina. Researchers are working to make it possible for anyone to use this technology. With the prototype of a compact, portable retinal...
View ArticleSquid skin protein could improve biomedical technologies, study shows
The common pencil squid (Loliginidae) may hold the key to a new generation of medical technologies that could communicate more directly with the human body. UC Irvine materials science researchers have...
View ArticleThe keys may be on your fingertips, but that doesn't mean biometric locks...
How can we ensure that someone is who they say they are? How can be sure that the person in our system, both digitally speaking or physically in front of us, is who whom they claim to be?
View ArticleArtificial retina could someday help restore vision
The loss of eyesight, often caused by retinal degeneration, is a life-altering health issue for many people, especially as they age. But a new development toward a prosthetic retina could help counter...
View ArticleNanotubes may restore sight to blind retinas
The aging process affects everything from cardiovascular function to memory to sexuality. Most worrisome for many, however, is the potential loss of eyesight due to retinal degeneration.
View ArticleClearer future for blind thanks to vOICe device
New findings from researchers in our Department of Psychology could pave the way for better treatments for blind and partially-sighted people using the revolutionary sensory substitution device, 'The...
View ArticleImage sensors that behave like biological retinas
Ever since the invention of the first camera obscura and the advent of photography in the 19th century, scientists have been fascinated by the use of light sensors to capture the world around us from...
View ArticleHow is the membrane protein folded?
A key factor in the biosynthesis and stable expression of multi-pass transmembrane proteins was discovered, and its loss is thought to cause retinal degeneration. The factor works especially for...
View ArticleResearchers describe how an approaching object triggers a flight reaction in...
Humans and animals instinctively evade rapidly approaching objects. By doing so, they avoid collisions or escape attacking predators. For this to happen, the brain must calculate the direction and...
View ArticleTeam identifies a form of congenital night blindness in dogs
People with congenital stationary night blindness, or CSNB, have normal vision during the day but find it difficult or impossible to distinguish objects in low light. This rare condition is present...
View ArticleTeam made new discoveries at the cellular and molecular levels about how the...
An animal's ability to perceive light incorporates many complex processes. Now, researchers in Craig Montell's lab at UC Santa Barbara have used fruit flies and mice to make novel discoveries about...
View ArticleMolecular characteristics of mammalian melanopsins for non-visual photoreception
Researchers at Institute for Molecular Sciences reported that a mammalian photoreceptive protein melanopsin spontaneously releases the chromophore retinal. The property would be important to regulate...
View ArticleThe molecular breakdance of seeing
The detection of light by pigments in the retina, called rhodopsin or visual purple, leads to our sense of vision. New experiments by scientists from the Max Planck Institute for the Structure and...
View ArticleTeam unveils a mechanism that controls neuron production from stem cells
A study conducted by a research team led by Michel Cayouette, Full IRCM Research Professor and Director of the Cellular Neurobiology research unit, in collaboration with a team led by Stéphane Angers,...
View ArticleA closer look at the eye: Researchers develop new retinal imaging technique
Researchers at the University of Rochester Medical Center have developed a new imaging technique that could revolutionize how eye health and disease are assessed. The group is first to be able to make...
View ArticleRabbits' detached retina 'glued' with new hydrogel
A newly developed elastic gel administered in liquid form and shown to turn jellylike within minutes after injection into rabbits' eyes to replace the clear gelatinous fluid inside their eyeballs, may...
View ArticleCells grow more naturally in 'spaghetti'
The usual way of cultivating cells is to use a flat laboratory dish of glass. However, inside a human body, the cells do not grow on a flat surface, but rather in three dimensions. This has lead...
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