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UW Scientists, Biotech Firm May Have Cure For Colorblindness
An anonymous reader writes with news about a possible cure for colorblindness. "For the more than 10million Americans with colorblindness, there's never been a treatment, let alone a cure, for the condition that leaves them unable to distinguish certain hues. Now, for the first time, two University of Washington professors have teamed with a California biotech firm to develop what they say may be a solution: a single shot in the eye that reveals the world in full color. Jay and Maureen Neitz, husband-and-wife scientists who have studied the vision disorder for years, have arranged an exclusive license agreement between UW and Avalanche Biotechnologies of Menlo Park. Together, they've found a new way to deliver genes that can replace missing color-producing proteins in certain cells, called cones, in the eyes."
Men have 2 genetic receptors for color, while women have 3. Women have a broader spectrum because of this. Eagles have 10. If you're going t inject my eyes to reverse my genetic anomaly, go for broke and give me UV to Infrared, don't piss around with just the limited spectrum of a human.
Turns out the biological lens of your eye blocks UV light, but if you get an artificial lens, your retinas can register UV light.
http://www.theguardian.com/sci...
--PM
What would the person's experience be like to see a new color? Personally, I'd like to experience tetrachromatic vision
Colorblindness is a form of diversity. You don't hate diversity, do you?
Re-education camps for those unwilling to make the change to today's proper mindset is the only way to do it.
This is publicly funded research. It bothers me that faculty and universities - as well as their corporate partners - end up reaping millions (or even billions) of dollars in windfalls based on research paid for on the taxpayers' dime.
At a minimum, these deals should have a clause requiring the amount of public money spent on such research should get paid back from these corporate proceeds before the schools and companies start collecting.
#DeleteChrome
Turns out the biological lens of your eye blocks UV light, but if you get an artificial lens, your retinas can register UV light.
There's some natural variation. I can see near-UV -- this caused some confusion in high school Chemistry class when I could see some spectrum lines that nobody else could.
I've got the mild form of color deficiency that reduces my total hue resolution from about 10 million colors to about 2 million colors. Maybe my cones register UV better too as a side-effect.
Oh, and I'll happily stick with two million colors if the alternative is a freaking needle in the eye. Eyedrops - let's talk.
My God, it's Full of Source!
OUTSIDE_IP=$(dig +short my.ip @outsideip.net)
During WWII this was used to advantage by the British. They would use UV lights to flash signals then have somebody at each location who had their lens removed due to cataracts and who could see the UV, which was completely invisible to the healthy Germans that had passed the German medical. This way, they could invisibly pass messages ship to shore and vice versa.
I'm at a visual disadvantage to your average, everyday person with normal tetrachromatic vision.
Along the same lines, can they cure my color-blindness in the infrared and longer wavelengths and ultraviolet and shorter ones?
I thought it was administered dorsally these days.
How can I believe you when you tell me what I don't want to hear?
this treatment to be used. We read every week about new advances in science, but they don't let us use them. Their kind hates science.
Are you sure you're not confusing them with 'Ban GMO!' liberals?
It's a bright shade of very pale peach/yellow. If I were any more pale, I would be almost like an albino but without the pink eyes.
Except when I get out in the sun, then it's a bright shade of red, almost like an albino with sunburn.
--
For the sarcasm impaired: We all have colored skin.
Knowledge is how to play a game, intelligence is how to win, wisdom is knowing what game to play.
First sentence: being critical of a statement by calling it a big assumption
Second sentence: citing a source verifying the statement as being a fact
... does this mean that tetrachromacy might soon be possible in males?
"Nine times out of ten, starting a fire is not the best way to solve the problem." - my wife
Sunburn! The hated sun it burns me!
Jim 'Wash Out' Pfaffenbach: I just got kicked out of the unit. My flight status has been withdrawn. I'm through, Dead Meat!
Pete 'Dead Meat' Thompson: What happened?
Jim 'Wash Out' Pfaffenbach: It's my eyes. I've got walleye-vision.
Pete 'Dead Meat' Thompson: Isn't there something that can be done?
Jim 'Wash Out' Pfaffenbach: Well, there's a delicate corneal inversion procedure... a multi-opti-pupil-optomy. But, in order to keep from damaging the eye sockets, they've got to go in through the rectum. Ain't no man going to take that route with me!
Don't blame me, I voted for Kodos
Problems include screaming fits of madness,complaints about seeing a skinny fellow who speaks in all capitals and occasionally getting next week's mail last Tuesday.
" I can see near-UV "
Sure you can, Bill. Your special brand of nonsense is quite amusing, don't stop!
The future is finally coming. Damn.
Here's a thought: would it work on dogs? We could test it by color coding the box with food in it, figuratively or literally.
The true potential of GMO is changes to the human genome. Being able to update your genetic firmware in place - no waiting for your offspring to express a desired trait - is so cool that I totally wouldn't mind having to wear a tattooed label whenever I visit California.
- Sorry officer, I saw the traffic light as being "green"...
Slashdot, fix the reply notifications... You won't get away with it...
Careful, would our civilizations survive real furries?
This is America after all.
where did you hear about this? any books you could recommend?
Men have 2 genetic receptors for color, while women have 3. Women have a broader spectrum because of this. Eagles have 10. If you're going t inject my eyes to reverse my genetic anomaly, go for broke and give me UV to Infrared, don't piss around with just the limited spectrum of a human
Instead of getting UV to Infrared, they should first help people with 'retina detachment' problems
Millions of people have eyes with degrading retina - and the older they get, the more detached their retina becomes
If they can offer a way to cure, or at least to halt the degradation of retina, then they will sure help out the millions of sufferers around the world
> For the more than 10million Americans with colorblindness, there's never been a treatment, let alone a cure, for the condition that leaves them unable to distinguish certain hues.
Not ture. For at least 12 years, there have been special eyeglass lenses on the market, which cover at least 2/3rd of all color blindness cases and correct the symptoms well enough to allow the patients work with CAD or Photoshop or drive a car without any risk of misreading the traffic lights and signs.
The problem is, it uses a complicated thin-film technology, which cannot yet be applied to contact lenses, only lens-and-frame eyeglasses, which it presents a vanity problem for wearers, especially since the film gives the lenses a weird hue.
I can see near-UV -- this caused some confusion in high school Chemistry class when I could see some spectrum lines that nobody else could.
Interesting that you mention that - I've never really thought I could see UV, but I have noticed that black lights and UV LEDs have a weird intense brightness that makes me squint even though the visible light isn't that bright, and I can't really perceive a different color. Germicidal lamps don't cause the same effect for me.
Please stand clear of the doors, por favor mantenganse alejado de las puertas
This was the most reliably citable thing I could find : a medical paper discussing side effects of cataract lens replacements.
http://crstodayeurope.com/2011...
There's the much more readily verifiable fact that red-green colour blindness allows you to see right through various forms of camouflage, and this has been exploited by the military in various settings.
Lots of anecdotes here : http://www.reddit.com/r/todayi...
Saw something about this in a BBC documentary about the "Atlantic War" in WW2. Funny, I seem to remember them saying that it was the US navy that came up with the idea, (replacement retina operations being more common in the USA at that time)
If you look at the response curve of all the opsins, it really just means you parse it as a different kind of white (it triggers all of them). More importantly, however, the UV damages them.
It's still cool, but it's of very limited use until we can either get another cone dedicated to UV or make the amount of UV very sparse, or in one eye. And that's if you're fully dedicated to risky mods that can cost you your vision.
Interesting that you mention that - I've never really thought I could see UV, but I have noticed that black lights and UV LEDs have a weird intense brightness that makes me squint even though the visible light isn't that bright, and I can't really perceive a different color.
such things were also reported by people who got caract surgery. Some type of replacement synthetic lens were more transparent in the UV and suddenly people started to see UV. (Some replacement were way too much transparent in the UV and could damage the eye by not protecting it enough).
Germicidal lamps don't cause the same effect for me.
Both are "UV" in the sense that they are above the violent band. But they're not the same wavelenght.
Blacklight UVA: is just slightly above the the violet band, with wavelenght shorter than 400nm
Germicidal Lamps UVC: is way above the violet band, with wavelenght around 280nm (e.g.: around wavelenghts most likely to be absorbed by DNA and other critical biological structures - thus damaging the germ cells).
Cones can detect UVA (it's just usually blocked by the eye's len).
Cones cannot detect UVC (and would probably just die if exposed to it).
"Sufficiently advanced satire is indistinguishable from reality." - [Tips: 1DrYakQDKCQ6y52z6QbnkxHXAocMZJE61o ]
In before 'Curing colorblindness is a crime against colorblind culture." argument starts.
I've decided to Diversify my Holdings. I've divided my cash between my left and right pockets, instead of all in one.
Well, I am red-green colour-blind with otherwise near perfect vision. I do not want to wear glasses, I'm mostly only affected when taking the Ishihara tests. A quick corneal shot to increase vibrancy is very interesting though. The only question is how much this will cost me.
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For those who bother to RTFA, the buried lede is the real gem:
The technique to correct colorblindness also might eventually be used for other cone-based disorders, including retinitis pigmentosa, an inherited disorder that can lead to blindness.
"That surely is a curse."
No, it is not. Human genitals are symmetric.
Bert
Well, it's certainly better than a poke in the eye with a sharp stick!
I hate black lights that are in line of sight. The entire bulb is a unfocusable blurry bright annoying thing. Even regular florescent light bulbs have an intense blue haze around them. I also hate it when there's overcast because many times the regular light is dim, so my pupils open more to let in the light so I can see, but the clouds are radiating a certain kind of "brightness" that makes my eyes hurt. Other people don't seem to notice it.
You don't mean "replacement retina operation" as that has yet to be done, even today. You mean replacement lens operation.
I am pretty much the same as you. This is "meh" for me at this stage (49).
Speaks in all capitals???
Biff, is that your little brother playing with your VIC-20 again?
I can sort of see near-UV as well. When I look at a prismatic spectrum, there is a bit of gray after the deep violet. I wouldn't be surprised to find this normal but that most people just don't notice it, since UV reflectivity is what makes "whiter whites" in your laundry.
I also happen to have partial color-blindness (not sure whether prot- or deuter- anomaly, but I can't distinguish some brownish colors), but that's clearly unrelated, since my UV vision is clearly from the rods, not the cones.
#naabhaprzrag, #sverubfr-000, #agi-fcbafberq, negvpyr[pynff*=' negvpyr-ary-'] { qvfcynl: abar !vzcbegnag; }
And then if we got another cone, what would it even look like?
#naabhaprzrag, #sverubfr-000, #agi-fcbafberq, negvpyr[pynff*=' negvpyr-ary-'] { qvfcynl: abar !vzcbegnag; }
Just don't take more than the stated dose, the side effects can be disturbing.
Speaking as a colorblind man, both red-green and, to a lesser extent, blue-yellow, even with a shot to the eyeball (presumably there'd be anesthesia involved) I'd be interested. I've always wondered what the world looked like to others, when I can only really see three colors in a rainbow.
Turns out the biological lens of your eye blocks UV light, but if you get an artificial lens, your retinas can register UV light.
There's some natural variation....
This has been understood for some time. As others have mentioned, various military orgs have used teams with varied color vision as a way of "seeing through" camouflage. Biologists have suggested that the variety in human color vision is adaptive, giving our hunting ancestors' teams an improved chance of spotting spotting prey against various backgrounds, and the addition of dogs (with their very different color vision from ours) improved this teamwork. This is all hypothetical, though, since (as far as I know) it hasn't actually been tested scientifically.
Back in high school (in the 60s), I had a science teacher who did a good illustration of it all. He made the usual demo of a spectrum using a prism, on a sheet of white paper. Then he had students come up and mark the visible ends of the spectrum, covering up each student's marks with another sheet of paper before the next student made their marks. The result was two columns of dots that didn't line up at all; their variants was around 10% of the width of the spectrum. I'd made marks that I could identify, and saw that my UV mark was right at the average point, while my IR mark was one of the farthest out. This explained some things I'd already noticed about the ways that different people saw colors.
This has been known to the photography industry since color film was first produced. Different varieties of film (and now CCDs) have different sensitivities, and different photographers have different preferences for brands of film based on this.
One of my funny personal anecdotes on the topic was once (in Jr High, as I recall), I asked some visitors why the front-left panel of their car was a different color than the rest of the car. They gave me a funny look, then said the car was all black, which everyone else present agreed with. I objected that only that one panel was black; the rest of the car was a deep red. This got me more funny looks, and the fellow who owned the car said that the car had been in a minor accident that damaged the front-left panel, so it was replaced. After that, my family thought I had something called "black-red color blindness" (which is odd, because I was actually the only one without that defect ;-). I was taken to an optometrist, who verified the "condition", but assured my parents that it wasn't a significant problem, and didn't need treating. Actually, there was a simple treatment: glasses that block near-IR light, and I've accidentally got several sunglasses that do just that, making for oddly muted reds.
As I got more into photography, I eventually noticed that my eyes have slightly different color vision, with things looking slightly bluer in the left eye and slightly redder in the right eye. This seems to be extremely common, actually, though most people don't notice it until it's mentioned and they start trying to spot it in different lighting condition. (Hint: It's often easier to spot in lower-light conditions, and difficult in full sunlight.)
Those who do study history are doomed to stand helplessly by while everyone else repeats it.
I didn't find anything offhand about WWII-era procedures, but your information is out of date.
Notable quote from the link:
Among other things, retinal transplants are routine, and the eye tolerates grafts of new tissue better than other parts of the body. Retinal cells grow very efficiently too, reducing the chance that the transplant might include any leftover stem cells that could keep growing and cause cancer.
Why would you link to the TIL sub instead of the wiki article that it points too? Lemme guess you #use #hashtags outside of Twitter too don't you?
This is curious, given that UV is so strongly scattered by the atmosphere that it would have almost no range. Even blue light has comparatively little range. They must have used hellaciously bright UV lights and/or just communicated over very short distances in clear air. One wouldn't expect even people with artificial lenses or corneas to have much sensitivity in the UV, as well.
Rayleigh scattering of UV light of (say) 300 nm wavelength is over 16 times stronger than the scattering of red light. It's one reason that runway lights intended to be seen by planes only after they've landed are typically blue, while markers intended to be seen from far away are typically red.
rgb
Even when the experts all agree, they may well be mistaken. --- Bertrand Russell.
Don't we have to try to preserve the "color-blind culture"?
Why are we messing with nature? /sarcasm
YIKES!!!
With all the bad diseases out there, we're worried about color-blindness?
Besides, it would be kinda cool to be colorblind. Good conversation piece with the honeys, bro?
Slashdot-jeering weirdos?
I remember reading that people who have been blind from birth, who then receive corrective surgery as adults so they can see for the first time, often have real trouble making sense of the new visual sensory data they suddenly have access to. Their brains just aren't able to make use of the data, never having been trained to do so. IIRC some of these people never really learn to see the world the way sighted people do, even though their eyes are now fully functional. I would imagine that similar problems might be encountered by anyone whose eyes and brain are suddenly perceiving "new" colors.
I was already legally blind in one eye when technology caught up with me in 1999 and I got my eyes back. LASIK left me with 20/15 (from 20/400 in one eye, and I freely admit I was very lucky, most get only 20/30 or so) and it has "degraded" to 20/15 left and 20/20 right in 16 years. Literally saved my life some months afterward when I used my new eyes to avoid an overturned van I would never have seen with glasses in a pitch-black new moon night. Needle in the eye? I've been waiting all my life for this; color blindness cost me a career as a pilot, and only in 2012 did I get a chance to get in through the side door (passed the Farnsworth and map tests and got a nice Letter of Evidence from the FAA, thanks OK City FSDO for the great help ^_^). Now tech will catch up with me again, and even if it was needles up the urethra, shut up, take my money, let's DO THIS. Everyone who's ever been denied flying because of this stupid condition will be lined up to take however many needles are necessary.
If this pans out, the Drs. Neitz have free beer and food wherever I reside for the rest of my natural lifespan.
OK, hot shot, you wanna tell us what that's about?
Preacher: Are you a sinner? Do you wish to be saved?
Dr. James Xavier: Saved? No. I've come to tell you what I see. There are great darknesses. Farther than time itself. And beyond the darkness... a light that glows, changes... and in the center of the universe... the eye that sees us all.
[Looks up at the sky]
Dr. James Xavier: No!
Preacher: You see sin and the devil! But the lord has told us what to do about it. Said Matthew in Chapter Five, "If thine eye offends thee... pluck it out!"
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt00...
-Eric
I'm red-green colorblind too & wear glasses all the time. The only time it's a big factor for me is with light hues. Dark red/green I can tell the difference. Traffic lights have position (& they do look different to me anyway). Heck, I didn't find out about it until I was out of college & saw the Ishihara tests.
The dual color LEDs in the network closet? Not so much. I wouldn't mind having an inexpensive magnifying glass to make one or the other pop.