May 10
18
The University of Missouri-Kansas City (UMKC) Vision Research Center has been awarded a $100,000 grant (over two years) from the American Health Assistance Foundation (AHAF) for their proposal “Protection of optic nerve head astrocytes and structure in glaucoma.”
Degeneration or acute damage of the retina due to glaucoma is a major cause of visual loss and blindness in the United States and worldwide. As glaucoma affects significant and increasing portions of the U.S. population including minorities affected by disparities in health care delivery, determining causes, mechanisms of action and subsequently potential treatment strategies will contribute to improving health care, health and performance requiring visual tasks. The project uses a self-defense mechanism of the eye to protect against damage from glaucoma discovered at UMKC’s interdisciplinary Vision Research Center.
The project’s goal is to characterize and use a novel drug target, which is part of the structure of the eye that is most affected by the blinding disease glaucoma, the so called optic nerve head. This structure of the eye is critical for the transmission of visual information to the brain and is most vulnerable to disease processes. The new approach developed by researchers at UMKC’s Vision Research Center is characterized by two novel aspects for glaucoma research and therapy development: targeting of a structure in the eye for which no therapy approaches are available and the combination of preserving structure and function simultaneously.
Peter Koulen, Ph.D., Professor and Felix and Carmen Sabates Missouri Endowed Chair in Vision Research at UMKC’s School of Medicine and Director of Basic Research at the Vision Research Center, serves as principal investigator of this program.
“This novel intervention approach has the potential be complementary in nature to currently available clinical therapies aimed at lowering the pressure inside the eye, so far the only treatment option for glaucoma,” Koulen said.
This newly funded basic science research project will also provide opportunities for the training of UMKC students, residents and fellow and generate the basis for future translational research.
“The interdisciplinary structure of our Vision Research Center fosters this kind of innovative research fueling the pipeline for new therapy development in areas of great clinical need,” Koulen said.
The American Health Assistance Foundation supports research in three focus areas, Alzheimer’s disease, glaucoma and macular degeneration. AHAF has awarded a total of $8,022,940 in grants for its three programs of research in 2010 and to date has awarded more than 110 million dollars within its research programs. AHAF is a ‘donor-supported’ nonprofit organization.