Question: how long does the virus take to cure blindness?

Prateek Buch answered on 22 Jun 2011:

good question. It depends on what kind of virus we’re using – if we use a virus that’s related to the common cold virus (the one I work with most often), then it can take up to six weeks for the genes it delivers to be turned into protein efficiently and for a real effect to take place. If we use viruses that have RNA instead of DNA as their genoms (viruses like HIV, the AIDS virus), we can get faster effects, in a matter of days. How long it then takes for sight to be restored then depends on the type of blindness we’re treating and what causes it, could be days, could be weeks!