Six years ago, a couple discovered a possible cure for colorblindness. Typically, colorblindness is genetic, so gene therapy is a possible cure for it. Eight percent of men are affected by it, while only 0.5% of women are. What happens is, a mutation on the x-chromosome inhibits distinguishing abilities between red and green. While red and green are just two colors in our spectrum, the way that colors are made and the way we see them means that reds and greens within other colors like blue, purple, orange, and yellow are also affected. Look below at the simulation.
As we learned in class last week, monkeys have the most similar experience with viewing color that humans do, and so that’s just what the two scientists used: squirrel monkeys. First, they began with surgery on the monkeys’ retinas, where new genes must be inserted in order for cells to respond to color. However, retinal surgery is risky. Other scientists at Berkeley discovered an alternative way to deliver the genes, which is through the vitreous, which is the clear gel in the eye. Somehow, this has nothing to do with the cones in the brain, but instead is only within the eye.
This is so interesting – the pictures especially made it really easy to picture how this would effect someone in everyday life. I always wonder if there’s the same thing happening with colorblindness with shades. It’s very hard for me to tell apart dark blues, blacks and browns, so maybe this could be inspiration for an extension study!
It was fascinating to see the pictures contrasting normal vision and that from the perspective of a color-blind person. I also didn’t know that color blindness could be cured, so that was an interesting revelation!
Interesting! I read here that researchers were thinking about the possibility of introducing animal genes to humans to allow them to pick up wavelengths in the non-visible spectrum. “The work also suggests humans could one day be given a fourth kind of cone cell, such as the UV-sensitive cone found in some birds, potentially allowing us to see more colors.”