Using a novel patient-specific stem cell-based therapy, researchers prevented blindness in animal models of geographic atrophy, the advanced ‘dry’ form of age-related macular degeneration (AMD), which is a leading cause of vision loss among people age 65 and older. The protocols established by the animal study set the stage for a first-in-human clinical trial testing the therapy in people with geographic atrophy, for which there is currently no treatment.