These are fairly cheap, making a potential treatment very affordable – especially when you consider the overall costs of blindness, " Dr Krisztina Valter says."

The dry form, for which there is still no cure, accounts for 80-90 per cent of cases, "says Dr Krisztina Valter of the Vision Centre and Australian National University."

Dr Krisztina Valter further says that the evidence yielded by the latest research is now so persuasive that the team could move to human trials this year, if they can secure a clinical partner.