Orion, the Cortical Visual Prosthesis System, gets full FDA approval

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The FDA has granted full approval to Second Sight Medical Products (SSMP) to begin the feasibility study for the Orion-I^TM Cortical Visual Prosthesis System. The approval allows two US sites, the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA) and Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, to enroll up to five total patients. The company’s new Orion I Visual Cortical Prosthesis goes even further by bypassing the optic nerve, along with the entire visual system, and stimulates the brain’s visual cortex directly. This would allow even people who lack any functionality within their eyes to be able to see.

Beware: Using colored contact lenses on Halloween may lead to blindness!

Whether you’re a ghost or zombie, vampire or witch, poor costume choices—including decorative (colored) contact lenses and flammable costumes—and face paint allergies can cause injuries that haunt you long after Halloween. Also remember what eating lots of sweet candy can do to your or your children's body.

It always pays to be aware and careful. Happy Halloween!

DNA & RNA editing - the future of disease management

Scientists at Harvard University and the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard have developed a new class of DNA base editor that can alter genomic structure to help repair the type of mutations that account for half of human disease-associated point mutations. These mutations are associated with disorders ranging from genetic blindness to sickle-cell anemia to metabolic disorders to cystic fibrosis.