Deniz Dalkara on Blind People regaining Sight: Promising results by injecting Algae-derived genes into eyes to act as photoreceptors!

 Algae doc

When I eat algae - as I eat spirulina every day - my eyes get dark green! This doc explains why - it works as photoreceptors in the eyes for real!!

 https://www.innovatorsunder35.com/the-list/deniz-dalkara/

https://www.dim-tg.org/en/news-2/gene-therapy-combines-cell-therapy-to-treat-blindness-interview-from-dr-deniz-dalkara-tenured-researcher-at-institut-de-la-vision-paris/ 

 This form of gene therapy uses microbial opsins (Light Sensitive Proteins from algae) delivered by viral vectors, into photoreceptors from human induced pluripotent stem cells that render cells sensitive to light. After transplantation into blind mice, we observed light-driven responses at the retinal and behavioural levels originating from graft. Light responses we recorded were characteristic of the inserted microbial opsins’ properties. These results demonstrate that structural and functional photoreceptor repair is possible by combining both stem cell therapy and optogenetics.

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.

the man has had no vision for the past two decades.

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.

Now when they were hit with light they would send an electrical signal to the brain.

However, they would respond only to amber light, so the patient wore a pair of goggles with a video camera on the front and a projector on the back, to capture what was happening in the real world and project a version in the right wavelength onto the back of the eye.

It took months for high enough levels of the rhodopsins to build up in the eye and for the brain essentially to learn a new language to be able to see again.

The man does not have perfect sight, but the difference between no vision and even limited vision can be life-changing.

Prof Botond Roska, from the University of Basel, said: "The findings provide proof-of-concept that using optogenetic therapy to partially restore vision is possible."