2023 Retina Society/IRRF Awardees

In 2023, 13 grant applications across the spectrum of basic, translational and clinical science were received for consideration for funding by the Research and Education Fund and Grant Awards program.  All were carefully reviewed by a committee consisting of Jason Hsu, Nora Lad, Eric Nudleman, Susanna Park, Yannis Paulus, Charles Wycoff and David Zacks. Glenn […]

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2023-RPB/IRRF Catalyst Award for Innovative Research Approaches for Age-Related Macular Degeneration (AMD)

RESEARCH PROJECT TITLE: Mechanobiology of Choroidal Vascular Loss in Early Age-related Macular Degeneration Kaustabh Ghosh, PhD Associate Professor of Ophthalmology David Geffen School of Medicine, UCLA Doheny Eye Institute Dr. Ghosh will study how the blood vessels in the outer retina (choroidal vessels) degenerate early on in age-related macular degeneration (AMD). Dr. Ghosh recently discovered […]

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Photo of Ivan Conte, PhD in lab

Ubiquitylation of BBSome is required for ciliary assembly and signaling

PROJECT TITLE: Ubiquitylation of BBSome is required for ciliary assembly and signaling. Francesco Chiuso, Rossella delle Donne, Giuliana Giamundo, Laura Rinaldi, Domenica Borzacchiello, Federica Moraca, Daniela Intartaglia, Rosa Iannuci, Emanuela Senatore, Luca Lignitto, Carrodo Garbi, Paolo Conflitti, Bruno Catalanotti, Ivan Conte, & Antonio Feliciello ABSTRACT: Bardet-Biedl syndrome (BBS) is a ciliopathy characterized by retinal degeneration, […]

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Photo of all three Retina Society/IRRF 2022 Grant Awardees

2022 Retina Society/IRRF Awardees

All grants were chosen for their scientific significance and rigor, exploration and expansion of novel scientific direction, as well as potential for expansion larger grants and/or direct patient care. Rajendra S. Apte, MD, PhD Paul A. Cibis Distinguished Professor of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences Washington University St. Louis, Missouri USA PROJECT TITLE:  Elucidating the Roles […]

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Photo of Bonnie Swenor, PhD

Development of a Novel Technology to Connect Patients with Vision Loss: The Low Vision Connect App

Bonnielin Swenor, PhD, M.P.H. Johns Hopkins Medicine TITLE OF PROJECT:  Development of a Novel Technology to Connect Patients with Vision Loss: The Low Vision Connect App Funded for Two Years with matching funds provided by the American Macular Degeneration Foundation (AMDF). The goal of this proposal is to develop and test the “Low Vision Connect” […]

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Photo of Ivan Conte, PhD

Frontiers in Aging Neuroscience

(30 June 2022) AUTHORS:  Daniela Intartaglia1, Giuliana Giamundo1,2, Federica Naso1, Edoardo Nusco1, Simona Di Giulio1, Francesco Giuseppe Salierno1, Elena Polishchuk1, and Ivan Conte1,2 1Telethon Institute of Genetics and Medicine, Pozzuoli, Italy, 2Department of Biology, University of Naples Federico II, Naples, Italy This study was conducted with IRRF funds – Ivan Conte, PhD, Telethon Institute of […]

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Headshot of Rodrigo Martins, PhD

Non-canonical roles of DNA damage signaling proteins in photoreceptor neuron morphogenesis and degeneration

Dr. Martins is an IRRF-Funded scientist at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, where he is an Assistant Professor. His funded project, Smc1 and the Cohesin Complex in Retinal Development and Disease: A New Mouse Model of Photoreceptor Degeneration, has resulted in a published paper in Developmental Biology, “N-myc regulates growth and fiber cell differentiation in lens development.”

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Retinal Vasculopathy with Cerebral Leukoencephalopathy and Systemic Manifestations (RVCL-S), a Vascular Eye Model

Project Title:  Retinal Vasculopathy with Cerebral Leukoencephalopathy and Systemic Manifestations (RVCL-S), a Vascular Eye Model. Gisela Terwindt, MD, PhD Leiden University Medical Center, The Netherlands $100,000 for one year Dr. Terwindt is an Associate Professor of Neurology at Leiden University Medical Center, whose special interest is headache and cerebral hereditary angiopathies (CHA).  She diagnoses more […]

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Understanding Usher Syndrome and Retinitis Pigmentosa Through Investigating the Periciliary Membrane Complex in Photoreceptors

Project Title:  Understanding Usher Syndrome and Retinitis Pigmentosa Through Investigating the Periciliary Membrane Complex in Photoreceptors Jun Yang, PhD Associate Professor of Ophthalmology & Visual Sciences University of Utah, Moran Eye Center Dr. Yang received her B.S. in 1989 from Nankai University, her PhD in 2001 from University of Massachusetts and completed a postdoctoral fellowship […]

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