Restoring Dim-Light Vision in Dogs

By Eric Craypo

Berkeley researchers have helped develop "a gene therapy that restores dim-light vision in dogs with a congenital form of night blindness, offering hope for treating a similar condition in people."

The results of this breakthrough study, conducted by researchers from the University of Pennsylvania, the University of Pittsburg, Charles River Laboratories, and from UC Berkeley, are reported in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Herbert Wertheim School of Optometry & Vision Science professor John Flannery led the group from Berkeley. Click on the links below to read the press release from the University of Pennsylvania, and the published paper.

Read the paper

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Original article written Katherine Unger Baillie at PennToday.

About the Photo

"A single injection of gene therapy containing a normal version of theLRIT3 gene resulted in lasting restoration of night vision in dogs affected by a form of congenital stationary night blindness similar to one affecting humans."(Image: Courtesy of Keiko Miyadera)