Excerpt relating to the previous post

This is the back of a human eye.
Notice how the darkness in infringing
on the surface.

February 2, 2012 – The secret to reversing blindness may lie in the DNA of pond scum — blue-green algae, to be precise — and the Foundation is providing a $250,000 grant to RetroSense Therapeutics, the developer of a treatment that delivers algal genes to the retina for restoring vision. RetroSense is hoping to launch a clinical trial of the gene therapy in two to four years, and the Foundation may invest additional money as certain milestones are met.

RetroSense’s genetic treatment is delivered to retinal ganglion cells, which survive long after rods and cones, the cells that normally provide vision, are lost to advanced retinal degenerations like retinitis pigmentosa and macular degeneration. The treatment contains copies of an algal gene called channelrhodospin-2, which make the ganglion cells light-sensitive. Normally, ganglion cells don’t provide vision; rather they help fine-tune the visual information generated by rods and cones.