Recently, there's been media coverage about a treatment for blindness we're developing through the company Bionic Sight. Here we summarize and provide the science behind it.

• Bionic Sight’s BS01 Gene Therapy Receives RMAT Designation from the FDA. GlobeNewswire, February 18, 2025.
  RMAT designation is part of the 21st Century Cures Act, which aims to accelerate the development of regenerative medicine therapies for serious medical conditions. It includes all the benefits of the fast track and breakthrough therapy designation programs but is specifically for regenerative medicine therapies, including gene therapy.
  
  
• Restoring Sight is Possible Now With Optogenetics Washington Post, April 23, 2024.
  
  
• Positive interim results in Bionic Sight's optogenetic gene therapy trial Presentation in conference entitled "Gene Therapy for Ophthalmic Disorders", Sept, 2021.
  
  
• First Four Patients in Bionic Sight's Optogenetic Gene Therapy Trial are Able to Detect Light and Motion GlobeNewswire, March 30, 2021.
  
  
• Bionic Sight’s Optogenetic Therapy Enables Blind Patients to Detect Light and Motion in Early Trial Foundation Fighting Blindness, Eye on the Cure Research News, March 30, 2021.
  
  
• NBC news (Dec, 2018).
  
  
• What if robots could process visual information the way humans do? TEDMED talk.
  
  
• Bloomberg Documentary (~7 min long).
  
  
• BBC Documentary (~4 min long).
  
  
• Professor at Weill Cornell wins MacArthur "Genius" Award.
  
  
• A prosthetic eye to treat blindness, TED talk. TED talk Q&A.
  
  
• Retinal prosthetic strategy with the capacity to restore normal vision, Nirenberg, S., Pandarinath, C. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) (2012). See also supporting information.