The Science of Sight

“The possibility of giving someone back their vision is one of the most meaningful goals I can imagine,” says Krzysztof Palczewski. Carlos Puma / Puma Images

Krzysztof Palczewski has spent his career chasing light. A world-renowned vision scientist, he leads UC Irvine’s Brunson Center for Translational Vision Research with a goal once thought impossible: curing blindness.

Inside his new laboratory at the Falling Leaves Foundation Medical Innovation Building, a gleaming 215,000-square-foot hub for scientific breakthroughs, Palczewski and his team are working to develop therapies for conditions like macular degeneration, diabetic retinopathy,  glaucoma and other inherited blinding diseases – disorders that rob millions of people of their sight each year.
 

Falling Leaves Foundation Medical Innovation Building, a gleaming 215,000-square-foot hub for scientific breakthroughs. Steve Zylius / UC Irvine
 

“What drives me,” Palczewski says, “is the chance to turn discoveries in the lab into cures that transform lives.”

His focus is on two powerful approaches: gene therapy and noninvasive imaging. Gene therapy aims to correct or replace faulty DNA in retinal cells, stopping damage at its source. Palczewski explains that the lessons learned here could one day extend well beyond the eye, revolutionizing treatment for a broad spectrum of genetic diseases.

The imaging side of his work is equally revolutionary. Using a custom-built two-photon ophthalmoscope, Palczewski’s team can observe living retinal cells in extraordinary detail. “It’s like watching disease unfold in real time,” he says. “This allows us to design more precise therapies and get them to patients faster.”

The Brunson Center is one of 12 frontier programs chosen to anchor UC Irvine’s new medical innovation building. The design fosters collaboration, placing scientists, clinicians and trainees in close proximity so ideas can move quickly from concept to clinic.

Palczewski, who is recognized internationally for his research on the molecular mechanisms of vision, believes this environment gives UC Irvine a critical advantage. “Science doesn’t happen in silos,” he says. “Bringing people together – geneticists, pharmacologists, clinicians – is how we accelerate cures.”

The stakes are high. Vision loss costs the U.S. an estimated $139 billion annually, and treatment options remain limited for many patients. But Palczewski is undeterred. Within the next decade, he and his colleagues will seek to deliver cures for inherited forms of blindness such as Stargardt Disease, Cone-Rod Dystrophy and Retinitis Pigmentosa.

Few medical interventions are as profound as restoring sight. “The possibility of giving someone back their vision,” he says, “is one of the most meaningful goals I can imagine.”

This feature article is by Carly Murphy and originally published in UC Irvine News.