Tech news

29 January 2021
Winter 2021

A glance at what’s happening in the world of technology.

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Gene therapy study offers hope to IRD sufferers

The visual function of mice suffering from inherited retinal disease (IRD) was restored in a US study hailed as a breakthrough.

Researchers from the University of California, Irvine (UCI), used new-generation CRISPR technology – known as base editing – to demonstrate a new therapeutic modality for a wide range of IRDs.

Co-author Krzysztof Palczewski, professor at the UCI’s Gavin Herbert Eye Institute, said: “We provide evidence of the clinical potential of base editors for the correction of mutations causing IRDs and for restoring visual function.

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Related further reading

To mark World Sight Day, new analysis of UK eye tests data estimates that only around 5% of the total population of children aged five years and under had an eye test in 2025, despite optometrists and opticians recommending that children should be taken for their first regular eye test by the time they start school, from age three to four years old.

ABDO, Boots Opticians, the College and Specsavers have all come together to provide CPD to enable you to build your confidence in working with children in your practice.

The GOC is consulting on an update to its 2013 Statement on the testing of sight, alongside proposed changes to the Standards of Practice for Optometrists and Dispensing Opticians and the Standards for Optical Students.