Built in the heart of the Quinze-Vingts National Eye Hospital
in Paris, France, the Vision Institute (French: Institut de la Vision) is one of the most important research centers (
Inserm /
UPMC /
CNRS) in Europe on eye diseases.
The Institute's goal is to discover, develop and test treatments and technological innovations in the area
ophthalmology
Ophthalmology ( ) is a surgical subspecialty within medicine that deals with the diagnosis and treatment of eye disorders.
An ophthalmologist is a physician who undergoes subspecialty training in medical and surgical eye care. Following a medic ...
and to improve the autonomy and the quality of life of patients.
Research areas
*
Macular degeneration
Macular degeneration, also known as age-related macular degeneration (AMD or ARMD), is a medical condition which may result in blurred or no vision in the center of the visual field. Early on there are often no symptoms. Over time, however, som ...
*
Diabetic retinopathy
Diabetic retinopathy (also known as diabetic eye disease), is a medical condition in which damage occurs to the retina due to diabetes mellitus. It is a leading cause of blindness in developed countries.
Diabetic retinopathy affects up to 80 perc ...
*
Glaucoma
Glaucoma is a group of eye diseases that result in damage to the optic nerve (or retina) and cause vision loss. The most common type is open-angle (wide angle, chronic simple) glaucoma, in which the drainage angle for fluid within the eye rem ...
*
Leber's hereditary optic neuropathy
Leber's hereditary optic neuropathy (LHON) is a mitochondrially inherited (transmitted from mother to offspring) degeneration of retinal ganglion cells (RGCs) and their axons that leads to an acute or subacute loss of central vision; it predomin ...
*
Retinal vein occlusion
Central retinal vein occlusion, also CRVO, is when the central retinal vein becomes occluded, usually through thrombosis. The central retinal vein is the venous equivalent of the central retinal artery and both may become occluded. Since the centr ...
*
Retinitis pigmentosa
Retinitis pigmentosa (RP) is a genetic disorder of the eyes that causes loss of vision. Symptoms include trouble seeing at night and decreasing peripheral vision (side and upper or lower visual field). As peripheral vision worsens, people may ...
*
Usher syndrome
Usher syndrome, also known as Hallgren syndrome, Usher–Hallgren syndrome, retinitis pigmentosa–dysacusis syndrome or dystrophia retinae dysacusis syndrome, is a rare genetic disorder caused by a mutation in any one of at least 11 genes result ...
* Eye implants
* Gene and cell therapies
* High-resolution retinal imagery
* Innovative technologies dedicated to visually impaired
Basic research
Vision Institute employs more than 250 scientists (Inserm - UPMC - CNRS) specialized in vision disorders.
There are 4 research departments:
* Developmental biology: analysis of the development of the visual system, connections, stems cells and regenerative approaches
* Visual information data processing: understanding and evaluation of the visual information data processing by the retina and the brain, neurotransmission pharmaco-toxicology
* Genetics: understanding of the genetic mechanisms associated with ophthalmological disorders, identification of the genes and proteins providing protection against neuronal stress
* Therapeutics: conception and evaluation of innovative treatments - cell therapy for cornea, pharmaco-toxicology of the ocular surface and glaucoma, gene therapy for neuropathies, modeling of retinal degeneration and vascular disorders
Clinical research
The Ophthalmological Clinical Investigation Centre of the Quinze-Vingts National Eye Hospital opened in 2004.
The Clinical Investigation Centre covers all eye diseases but is specialised in exploration of retinal pathologies (macular degeneration, hereditary retinal degenerations, diabetic retinopathies, retinal vascular pathologies) and technological innovations.
Research in the quality of life
The Vision Institute runs a StreetLab Platform Project. The StreetLab platform enables researchers to design and develop innovative technology solutions for the visually impaired while being able to evaluate the therapeutic benefit of this research directly with the people involved.
Foundation Voir et Entendre
The Foundation Voir et Entendre was created in May 2007 by Prof. Christine Petit (
Institut Pasteur
The Pasteur Institute (french: Institut Pasteur) is a French non-profit private foundation dedicated to the study of biology, micro-organisms, diseases, and vaccines. It is named after Louis Pasteur, who invented pasteurization and vaccines f ...
,
Collège de France
The Collège de France (), formerly known as the ''Collège Royal'' or as the ''Collège impérial'' founded in 1530 by François I, is a higher education and research establishment ('' grand établissement'') in France. It is located in Paris n ...
) and Prof.
José-Alain Sahel
José-Alain Sahel is a French ophthalmologist and scientist. He is currently the chair of the Department of Ophthalmology at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, director of the UPMC Eye Center, and the Eye and Ear Foundation Chair ...
.
The Foundation's objective is to coordinate and to finance research programs on ocular and auditory diseases. Its mission is to stimulate the collaboration between fundamental, clinical and industrial research, so as to accelerate therapeutic innovation for the benefit of the patients.
Industrial collaborations
Five major companies have settled in the Institute to develop research projects in the field of vision:
Essilor
Essilor International is a French-based international ophthalmic optics company that designs, manufactures and markets lenses to correct or protect eyesight. Its headquarters is in Charenton-le-Pont (near Paris), France.
It is the world's larg ...
,
Sanofi Fovea, Thea, Horus Pharma an
Iris Pharma
References
External links
Vision InstitutVision Therapy Exercises
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Medical and health organizations based in France
Molecular biology institutes
Genetics or genomics research institutions
Biological research institutes
Research institutes in France
Ophthalmology organizations