Massachusetts researchers have made a significant advancement toward a gene therapy treatment that would reverse deafness.
The Boston Herald reports "'It’s amazing that it works. It was one of those ‘Eureka!’ moments,' said Jeffrey Holt, a scientist in the Department of Otolaryngology at Children’s"...He added, 'We’re also interested in extending [the treatment] to different forms of genetic deafness,' including Usher syndrome, which causes both hearing and vision loss.' Read their full article here.
NPR reports that researchers at Boston Children's Hospital and Harvard Medical school have "focused on a gene called TMC1. Normally this gene allows cells in the inner ear to convert sounds into electrical signals that are sent to the brain, Holt says. But when the gene is mutated, he says, this doesn't happen." Read their full article here.
