Algae DNA could restore vision to the blind!
Algae DNA could restore vision to the blind in the upcoming first optogenetics human trials!
The Scientists from "RetroSense Therapeutics" will be injecting a virus deep into the retina of the legally blind first human volunteers. The expectation is to improve or even restore vision from absolute nothing to seeing in Black and White.
“This is going to be a gold mine of information about doing optogenetics studies in humans,” said Dr. Antonello Bonci, the scientific director of the intramural research program at the National Institute on Drug Abuse, to MIT Technology Review.
The virus will carry out DNA that codes channelrhodopsin-2 a light-responsive protein isolated from algae that under blue light activates cells in the retina, thereby transmitting visual information to the brain.
