Research to Prevent Blindness provides $110,000 grant to UC Davis Department of Ophthalmology and Vision Science

Research to Prevent Blindness (RPB), the world's leading voluntary organization supporting eye research, awarded the UC Davis Department of Ophthalmology and Vision Science a grant for $110,000 to support research into the causes, treatment and prevention of blinding eye diseases. To date, the organization has awarded grants totaling $2,678,900 to the University of California, Davis.

Research supported by RPB within the U.C. Davis Dept. of Ophthalmology and Vision Science covers a broad spectrum:

• Lawrence Morse, Leonard Hjelmeland and Susanna Park are investigating a variety of problems of the diabetic eye and macular degeneration.

• Mark Mannis continues the investigation and development of microbe-killing mechanisms and how this applies to infections of the cornea that can threaten vision. He is also investigating new approaches for diagnosing ocular rosacea.

• Ivan Schwab is creating a bioengineered ocular surface that may have uses in other membrane areas, such as the lungs. The way ocular surface disease is treated could be changed by spraying a living, growing mucous membrane bandage onto the surface of the eye, eliminating the need for sutures (stitches).

• James Brandt collaborates with researchers from the Department of Physiology, exploring new associated therapies for treating glaucoma. Glaucoma patients seem to have more health concerns, perhaps due to the number of systemic and ocular medications taken. Further, he is a principal investigator in the Ocular Hypertension Treatment Study investigating the importance of the cornea’s thickness in the diagnosis and management of glaucoma.

• John Keltner remains principal investigator of the Visual Field Reading Center (VFRC) for the Ocular Hypertension Treatment Study, determining the effectiveness of treatments in preventing or delaying the onset of glaucoma in patients with high intraocular pressures. The VFRC has found that changes in visual fields and changes in the back of the eye must be monitored equally, because either may be harbingers of damage from glaucoma.

• Michele Lim’s basic research focuses on understanding ocular blood flow. In the clinic, she studies optic nerve imaging and the possible relationship between personality type and glaucoma.

• Charles Thirkill is collaborating with Drs. Morse and Keltner to find a way to identify immunologic aspects of age-related macular degeneration and cancer-induced autoimmune retinopathies.

• John Werner’s research focuses on normal aging and macular degeneration. He is currently developing a high-resolution adaptive optics system for psychophysical studies and retinal imaging.

Since it was founded in 1960, RPB has channeled hundreds of millions of dollars to medical institutions throughout the United States for research into all blinding eye diseases. For information on RPB, RPB-funded research, eye disorders and the RPB Grants Program, go to www.rpbusa.org.