Says one author of publication: “It’s a major milestone,” said study leader and ophthalmologist José-Alain Sahel of the University of Pittsburgh and the Sorbonne University in France.

Says unaffiliated doctor: “It’s a small step forward but it is a definite step forward in that they’ve been able to prove that this does work in humans,” said Paul Bernstein, an ophthalmologist and retinal specialist at the University of Utah School of Medicine, who was not involved in the study.

It's neat to see optogenetics (and genetic manipulations in general) being applied to humans. The journey from research to real-world application is effing long.