The Glaucoma Foundation Awards New Grants To Researchers Worldwide

Main Category: Eye Health / Blindness
Article Date: 02 Feb 2009 - 5:00 PDT

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The Glaucoma Foundation (TGF) has announced five new grants in its most recent research grant cycle. In the past year, The Glaucoma Foundation awarded more than $400,000 in grants, and a $40,000 Fellowship was awarded in conjunction with the American Glaucoma Society.

The new awards, to scientists based in Edmonton, Canada; Boston, MA; Cambridge, UK; Genoa, Italy and Hong Kong continue TGF's longstanding commitment to provide seed grants that enable researchers to investigate promising and innovative ideas in the field of glaucoma to determine their merit.

Frequently, preliminary data from these projects have been used to support proposals for larger grants from such sources as the National Institutes of Health and other governmental entities.

"The Foundation has always encouraged grant applications from around the world," says Scott R. Christensen, TGF president. "Applications received during this cycle were of a particularly high quality, and we are very pleased to support this level of research globally."

TGF supports research primarily in optic nerve rescue and restoration, the genetic causes of the various forms of glaucoma, and the applications of nanotechnology for monitoring IOP, for diagnosing and monitoring damage to the optic nerve, and for delivering drugs and other therapies.

Glaucoma is characterized by a particular pattern of progressive damage to the optic nerve, with vision loss due to the degeneration and death of nerve cells of the retina. New projects will investigate different aspects of cell death in glaucoma and cell types that may play an active role in the disease. Others focus on finding new genes that may cause glaucoma and new imaging techniques to monitor cell damage and to identify certain molecular biomarkers in glaucoma.

Recipients of grants approved in the most recent cycle are:

- Alberto Izzotti, MD, PhD
University of Genoa, Italy
Analysis of Mitochondrion Involvement in the Pathogenesis of Primary Open Angle Glaucoma

- Tatjana C. Jakobs, MD
Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA
Single-cell Imaging of Optic Nerve Astrocytes in Glaucoma

- Christopher Kai Shun Leung, MD, MB ChB, BMedSc, MSc
University Eye Center, The Chinese University of Hong Kong
In vivo Imaging of Retinal Ganglion Cells - A New Model to Study Neuroprotection in Glaucoma

- Keith R.G. Martin, MA, DM, MRCP, FRCOphth
Cambridge Centre for Brain Repair, UK
Does Tau Dysfunction Play a Role in Glaucoma?

- Michael Walter, PhD
University of Alberta, Edmonton, Canada
Development of a Functional Assay for WDR36

The Glaucoma Foundation's mission is to fund groundbreaking research and educate the public about glaucoma. The Foundation works to stimulate and support basic and applied research in glaucoma, to gain and disseminate new information about the biological causes and treatment of glaucoma, and to further efforts to identify and develop novel approaches to preserve visual function and reverse blindness caused by glaucoma.

The Glaucoma Foundation

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