Gene Therapy Cures Color Blindness in Monkeys

[one...two...tree 2,762]

For two squirrel monkeys nicknamed Dalton and Sam, life has gotten a lot more colorful. Researchers used gene therapy to correct the color blindness of the two adult monkeys, giving them the ability to distinguish between red and green for the first time. The fascinating accomplishment suggests that scientists may someday be able to cure other kinds of blindness in humans. And because the treated monkeys were “middle aged”, it challenges the assumption that gene therapies cannot work in adults because their brain connections are too set in their ways to change beneficially [New Scientist].

http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn1779...ref=online-news

[HAL 9000 96]

Hey hey we're the Monkees...

[mawilson 2,133]

But can they cure gay monkeys?

[HAL 9000 96]

As discomforting as it may seem injecting a virus or artificial chromosome with an opsin gene into the back of the eye, it would be really weird to be a communicative male and discover for the first time what Red and Green colors look like after a whole life of not being able to see those two colors. The brain permits this by merely conducing the color signals to visual cortex where, via plastic mechanisms, visual cortex would likely allow new development to take place. It would require some training for the brain to effectively learn what the color is. Just like with babies. Cool.