vision

The science of vision is full of developments that would have sounded like science fiction just a few years ago. Articles on this page include using optogenetics and genetic reprogramming to restore sight, and using AI to identify patients at a high risk of blindness. There are new drugs and new biotech startups tackling macular degeneration and glaucoma. There are even researchers daring to dream of making eye transplants a reality.

As one researcher told STAT: “The things that are happening now were just total science fiction when I started 26 years ago. … These sorts of high tech approaches are bringing what was once a very distant horizon — restoring vision in these kinds of patients — much closer. It’s really just amazing.”