Eye diseases such as retinitis pigmentosa and macular degeneration result in the loss of vision in a slow and unrelenting fashion due to the deteriorating and damaged retina. A team of scientists at the Schepens Eye Research Institute and Harvard Medical School has published a study in the March issue of Investigative Ophthalmology and Visual Science (IOVS) a means of stimulating a particular cell in the eye to generate new retinal cells.

• Dr. Dong Feng Chen, associate scientist at Schepens Eye Research Institute and Harvard Medical School, and the principal investigator of the study