Eye doctors who treat patients complaining of blurred vision, night blindness, and flashing lights now may order a simple blood test based on the research of an eye scientist at UC Davis that can detect early stages of cancer occurring elsewhere in the body. The cancer-associated retinopathy assay, which became available this fall, is primarily the work of Charles E. Thirkill, a researcher in the UC Davis School of Medicine's ophthalmology department. "Eyes can exhibit cancer-associated retinopathy, a rare form of retinal degeneration that occurs in association with certain form of cancer, such as tobacco-caused lung cancer," Thirkill says. "Vision loss, dizziness, and nausea are early warning signals of cancer-associated retinopathy." He and colleagues recently published work on this degeneration in the journal Investigative Ophthalmology and Visual Science. UC Regents have licensed and patented his discovery. A pharmaceutical company, Genica Pharmaceuticals Inc., of Worcester, Mass., is marketing the assay.