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NEI commits to develop noninvasive imaging technology
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The National Eye Instituted announced that it will provide $3.8 million in 2015 and up to $17.9 million over the next 5 years to support five projects involving new imaging technology as part of its Audacious Goals Initiative.
“These ambitious projects will give us a window into the visual system,” NEI director Paul A. Sieving, MD, PhD, said in an NEI press release. “Tools developed will enhance the study of functional changes in the retina and optic nerve, in real-time and at the cellular level, and will be indispensable when evaluating new regenerative therapies for eye diseases.”
The NEI explained in the release that the Audacious Goals Initiative is a coordinated effort to pursue new therapies for blinding diseases.
“The central audacious goal is to restore vision by regenerating neurons and neural connections in the eye and visual system,” according to the NEI. “Special emphasis is devoted to cells of the retina, including the light-sensitive rod and cone photoreceptors, and the retinal ganglion cells, which connect photoreceptors to the brain via the optic nerve.”
According to Sieving, projects in the research phase of the initiative will “bridge gaps in current technology, enabling later phases of the initiative.”
The release detailed the five projects: designing a system to map the interaction of cells in the retina, designing an optical system to image responses to light of large numbers of individual cells in the retina, developing a tool to visually monitor vitamin A derivatives in the retina, adapting technologies to noninvasively visualize the optic nerve and developing a suite of core technologies that will advance and increase the usability of next-generation retinal cameras.