A groundbreaking surgical therapy capable of stabilising and restoring vision in the vast majority of patients who currently suffer blindness through Age-Related Macular Degeneration (AMD) is to be taken to clinical trial by scientists and clinicians at the UCL Institute of Ophthalmology, Moorfields Eye Hospital and the University of Sheffield.

Custom-designed contacts improved vision for subjects with keratoconic eyes and offer hope of nonsurgical treatment instead of corneal transplants. University of Rochester researchers describe the custom design techniques and results of visual acuity tests in a paper published in April in Optics Letters.

Researchers at the McKnight Brain Institute of the University of Florida have initiated a project to treat human brain and other diseases by plundering the secrets of regeneration from creatures with remarkable powers of self-renewal, such as salamanders, newts, starfish and flatworms.

At the root of scientific study are observations made with the eyes; yet in nanoscience, our eyes fail us.

Several research centers across the United States are studying whether or not dietary supplements help prevent age-related macular degeneration, a leading cause of blindness in older adults. A previous study concluded that supplements with antioxidants and zinc reduced the risk by about 25 percent.

An international research team including scientists at the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston (UTMB) and the Galveston-based spinoff Neurobiotex, Inc. has found high levels of zinc in deposits in the eye that are an indication of age-related macular degeneration (AMD) - the leading cause of blindness in the elderly in the developed world.