CRISPR/Cas9 Disrupts Glaucoma Gene, Takes Pressure off Eyes in Disease Models

Scientists at the University of Iowa could be forgiven if they were to revise an old nursery rhyme to read, “two blind mice.” The scientists, led by Val Sheffield, M.D., Ph.D., used the CRISPR/Cas9 gene-editing system to disrupt a gene known to cause glaucoma. Then the scientists determined that in a mouse model of glaucoma, disruption of the gene prevented high intraocular pressure, an early precursor to the most common form of glaucoma, which is known as primary open-angle glaucoma