Algae proteins partially restore man's sight.

[Tanuki]

https://www.bbc.com/news/health-57226572

..."The vision of a completely blind man has been partially restored using light-sensing proteins first found in algae. The man was treated with a type of therapy called optogenetics, which uses the proteins to control cells at the back of his eye.


He was diagnosed with retinitis pigmentosa - which leads to the death of light-sensing cells on the surface of the retina - 40 years ago.

He was treated with optogenetics - a field new to medicine, but one that has long been a staple of fundamental neuroscience. It uses light to control precisely the activity of brain cells and was used by the scientists to restore the ability of one of his eyes to detect light.

The technique is based on proteins, produced in algae, called channelrhodopsins, which change their behaviour in response to light. The microbes use them to move towards the light.

The first step in the treatment was gene therapy. The genetic instructions for making the rhodopsins were taken from algae and given to cells in the deep surviving layers of the retina at the back of his eye."...(more)

[Journeyman]

1. "These are the days of miracle and wonder" . . .