Regenerating the optic nerve was long considered impossible. But over the last 20 years, advances in the field have instilled confidence in many researchers—including ...

New research by Larry Benowitz, PhD, and colleagues shows how zinc regulates the survival of retinal ganglion cells, and by binding it (zinc chelation), can help the optic nerve to regenerate. Their findings, published in PNAS (January, 2017), could potentially lead to therapies that help patients with optic nerve injuries due to trauma, glaucoma or other causes, including spinal cord injury....

As part of the National Eye Institute Audacious Goals Initiative, the National Institutes of Health awarded $12.4 million to six research teams to identify biological factors that affect neural regeneration in the retina. Larry Benowitz, PhD, Boston Children’s Hospital, and colleagues at Stanford University and the Scripps Research Institute, received funding to support their research toward the molecular discovery of optic nerve injury. By...