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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Huckleberries Online

A brighter outlook

University of Washington researchers Jay and Maureen Neitz, seen holding testing cards for color perception, have teamed up with a California biotech company for a prospective gene-therapy cure for colorblindness.
University of Washington researchers Jay and Maureen Neitz, seen holding testing cards for color perception, have teamed up with a California biotech company for a prospective gene-therapy cure for colorblindness.

Now, for the first time, two University of Washington professors have teamed with a California biotech firm to develop what they say may be a solution: a single shot in the eye that reveals the world in full color.

Jay and Maureen Neitz, husband-and-wife scientists who have studied the vision disorder for years, have arranged an exclusive license agreement between UW and Avalanche Biotechnologies of Menlo Park. Together, they’ve found a new way to deliver genes that can replace missing color-producing proteins in certain cells, called cones, in the eyes. More.



Huckleberries Online

D.F. Oliveria started Huckleberries Online on Feb. 16, 2004. Oliveria's Sunday print Huckleberries is a past winner of the national Herb Caen Memorial Column contest.