Original broadcast date: September 13, 2009

There are instances in clinical research when the clinical outcome goals of the study are superseded by an unexpected discovery. Researchers from the University of Florida reported in the August 13, 2009 edition of the New England Journal of Medicine that the retinas of adults treated with a gene therapy to restore partial function adapted and created new regions to interpret the visual signals.

In effect, the treated parts of the retinas may have acquired enough image-processing strength to rival the retina’s normal center for visual perception, called the fovea, for the brain’s attention.

• Dr. William Hauswirth, PhD, Professor of Ophthalmology and Molecular Genetics at the University of Florida College of Medicine