Going by the noteworthy findings of a new study by scientists from the University of Washington, improving human vision with gene therapy apparently has bright future prospects, more so as researchers reportedly cured color-blind monkeys with a simple injection of cells!

Saying that work on the project pertaining to color-blindness was initiated nearly eight years back, the study's co-author Jay Neitz - an ophthalmologist and professor at the University of Washington in Seattle - elaborated that the researchers chose to work on squirrel monkeys as their eyes are similar to the eyes of the humans.

To determine the effect of gene therapy in curing color-blindness, Neitz and his colleagues trained several of the monkeys in a lab, where they were given the standard color-blindness test for humans. However, the normal hidden letter was changed with a blob-like shape, and the test was put on a touch screen.

Noting that all male monkeys are color-blind and cannot distinguish between green and red, Neitz elaborated that "From the monkey's perspective, the blob is like a fruit against a background of leaves. We trained them to touch the screen where they see the color blob." He added that there was a marked improvement in the monkeys' perception after the treatment.

Commenting on the findings, Neitz remarked that treating humans with the gene therapy might possibly "cure their color vision."