Researchers at the Fralin Biomedical Research Institute at VTC are looking at potential preventative and therapeutic measures for the disease, optic nerve hypoplasia (ONH), which causes vision impairment in newborns. The condition occurs when optic nerves that transmit signals from the retina to the brain are underdeveloped at birth, causing moderate to severe vision loss in children, according to the National Institutes of Health (NIH). It has no known cause, and families touched by the disorder have few medical solutions.