Cataract study takes 'big step'

New findings about how cataracts form could be used to help prevent the eye condition through new treatments, according to researchers.

A paper published in this month’s Structure journal explored and identified the structures of normal crystallin proteins and a genetic mutation known to cause cataracts in young children.

The combined team of researchers from the University of California and Leibniz-Institut Für Molekulare Pharmakologie in Berlin, hoped that having mapped the mechanism at a molecular level, organic chemists could create treatments.

‘That’s the dream, and this is a big step,’ said Rachel Martin, UC Irvine associate professor of chemistry and co-author of the paper.