Galveston County Daily News July 11, 2007 GALVESTON - Thousands of Irish nuns and a group of blind mice may hold vital clues that could help scientists at the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston find a cure for one of the leading causes of blindness in the elderly. The medical branch is involved in one project that focuses research on the various causes of age-related macular degeneration within a population of 3,000 nuns in Ireland, all of whom are at least 65 and have lived in a convent setting for more than 25 years. And, in a separate study into the same disease, medical branch staff are assessing the results of using adult bone-marrow stem cells to repair and regenerate the retinas of blind mice.