Research into eye cell regeneration is to take place at the University of Cambridge, thanks to a £60,000 grant from the charity ‘Fight for Sight’.
Research into eye cell regeneration is to take place at the University of Cambridge, thanks to a £60,000 grant from the charity ‘Fight for Sight’.
One of the major causes of blindness is the degeneration of specific neuronal cells in the retina of the eye. Methods are being developed to replace damaged retinal neurons with new ones.
Researchers at the Department of Oncology at the University have recently found a method of making large amounts of one specific type of neuron in the eye.
The research grant will fund a PhD studentship that will work to extend this approach to the production of the photo-receptor cells which are the ones most often damaged in blindness.
The grant will fund the studentship over three years. Group leader Dr Shin-ichi Ohnuma said:
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Licence. If you use this content on your site please link back to this page.