Week in review: Brain power, shady business, integrin inhibition

A weekly roundup of ophthalmic news from around the web.

Children’s brains reorganize to preserve vision after parts of the visual cortex are removed during epilepsy surgery, according to research funded by the National Eye Institute. Researchers from Carnegie Mellon University tested visual perception in 10 children who had up to half of the visual cortex removed. All scored within the normal range, even for complex perception and memory activities. The findings appeared in the Journal of Neuroscience. National Eye Institute

Florida-based US Stem Cell Clinic, LLC, is banned from offering stem cell therapies after a federal judge granted the FDA an injunction against the company. Since 2015, at least 3 patients have lost vision after receiving treatments for AMD, while others received unapproved therapies for Parkinson’s disease, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. The therapy involves liposuction of belly fat to generate so-called stem cells, which are injected back into the patient. The ruling allows for closer federal regulation of the company but does not shut down operations. FDA, The New York Times

Allegro Ophthalmics announced promising phase 2 findings for Luminate (risuteganib), a potential treatment for an untreatable condition: intermediate dry AMD. Two doses of the anti-integrin drug boosted vision by at least 8 letters compared with baseline, and the treatment appears safe so far. The findings “suggest what we have always hoped to see: a potential therapy for intermediate dry, nonexudative AMD,” said Peter K. Kaiser, MD. “If we could add a treatment to our armamentarium that can improve vision in this population of patients that currently is untreatable, this would be significant. Allegro Ophthalmics

Scientists say a new cloud-computing platform could accelerate research on eye disease, dementia, sports concussions and more. The tool, called brainlife.io, tracks all aspects of research where people are more likely than machines to make mistakes, such as keeping track of data and code for analyses, storing information and producing visualizations. A team of Japanese and American researchers used the platform to show how retinal neurodegeneration spurs the breakdown of neural white matter in people with AMD. Their findings appeared in the journal Brain Structure and Function. Indiana University