News

Gene Therapy

In 2007 Robert underwent one of the newest, and most talked about, operations of the time - and in doing so became the first person in the world to have an eye treated with gene therapy. The story tiself broke sometime later in the year, with widespread coverage on television, radio, newspapers and the internet.

The aim of this page is not to retell the story of the operation in itself, but rather to point the reader towards other useful online sources of information, including some of the key contemporary media reports.

Internet Links

Please remember that all of the following links are to external websites outside the control of Robert Johnson Online.

• Results of the Gene Therapy trial published in the New England Journal of Medicine over a year after my operation. This is a good place to start reading as it explains the background to the procedure, and the outcome from my doctors' perspectives.
• The story that the operation had taken place originally broke at the start of May 2007. This is the BBC's main article about my operation, written by their Science Correspondent, Pallab Ghosh. Use the video link on the right of the BBC page to view a television news report which was shown as top story on the One O'Clock and Six O'Clock News, and repeated throughout the day on other bulletins.
• Most of the newspapers took inspirations for their own stories, it seems, from the BBC one. Here is the Daily Telegraph's report.
• The Daily Mail's story - including a large photograph ofme with an eye patch!
• The Indepedent's article on the operation.
• The story was picked up all around the World. Here's a transcript of a report from the Australian Broadcasting Corporation's PM programme. You can also listen to the story using one of the links at the top of the page.