right time

The researchers are now looking at ways to extend the half-life of the mRNA so that it can last longer and to determine the optimal timing of the treatment to ensure the mRNA gets in the eye at the right time.

Ms Buchanan said she had already spoken to her family about going to Dignitas, the assisted dying facility in Switzerland, when she decides the right time has come.

"Now we can see there are different patterns of inflammation, we can be smarter and get the right treatment, to the right patient, at the right time," said Prof Mona Bafadhel, from King's.

“Given that NIH restructuring is squarely on the table now,” Sharpless says, “this may be the right time for an outsider.”

So then it became an extremely huge technical feat to make this closet come to life — grown men in small spaces pulling doors and making things open at the right time, gadgets that unfold remotely with batteries and cords.