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Judit Baffi, M.D., Ph.D.
University of Kentucky
Lexington, KY
Title:
CCR3 biology and imaging applied to CNV in AMD
Non-Technical Title:
A New Molecular Target for Diagnosing the Wet Form of AMD
Duration:
April 1, 2010 - June 25, 2012
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Summary: We are pursuing the combined goals of understanding the role and impact of CCR3 function during blood vessel development in the eye. Further, we are exploiting CCR3 to create images of the earliest stages of neovascular, ‘wet’, age-related macular degeneration (AMD). We are achieving this by using multiple molecular, biological, and genetic approaches. The potential impact of this proposal is very high as it will further define the functional relevance of the CCR3/eotaxin “axis” to the clinical development and progression of AMD. This will lead to the development of novel CCR3-targeting diagnostic and therapeutic strategies that can be used in the clinic to detect the subclinical stages of neovascular AMD, thus preventing this disease from progressing into a vision threatening state.
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Program: Macular Degeneration
Award Type: Standard
$100,000
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Michael E. Boulton, Ph.D.
University of Florida
Gainesville, FL, United States
Title:
Preprogrammed Bone Marrow Cells as a Systemic Therapy for Dry AMD
Non-Technical Title:
Programming Circulating Cells as a Therapy for Age-related Macular Degeneration
Duration:
July 1, 2011 - June 30, 2013
Co-Investigator(s):
Maria Grant, M.D.
University of Florida
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Summary: Age-related macular degeneration is the leading cause of irreversible blindness in the elderly. Dry AMD, which represents 85% of AMD, is associated with retinal pigment epithelial (RPE) dysfunction and death for which there is currently no treatment. The development of a minimally invasive cellular therapy that can be given systemically will a) overcome the need for invasive ocular surgery and b) offer the potential for prevention rather than intervention since this therapy can be given much earlier in the disease. Successful development of this approach will offer an important treatment for the 1.7 million plus Americans who are threatened with visual loss from dry AMD, improve quality of life and reduce social and healthcare costs. We predict that the AHAF funding for this proposed preclinical study will provide the necessary data to confirm the efficacy of this cellular therapy and allow this pioneering research to translate into phase 1 and 2 clinical trials.
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Program: Macular Degeneration
Award Type: Standard
$100,000
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Jacque Duncan, M.D.
University of California, San Francisco
San Francisco, CA
Title:
Relationship Between Fundus Autofluorescence And Cell Survival
Non-Technical Title:
Why Vision Cells Die In Age-Related Macular Degeneration
Duration:
April 1, 2009 - June 30, 2012
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Summary: This project will ask whether autofluorescent lesions visible in the macula and genetic risk factors associated with age-related macular degeneration (AMD) correlate with vision loss and progression of disease severity. We will use multiple measures of retinal structure and function to measure disease severity and progression over 1 year. We will correlate these precise measures of AMD disease severity and progression with autofluorescent lesions and genes associated with increased risk of AMD.
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Program: Macular Degeneration
Award Type: Standard
$100,000
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Sina Farsiu, Ph.D.
Duke University
Durham, NC
Title:
Automatic Measurement of Wet AMD's Imaging Biomarkers
Non-Technical Title:
Automatic Detection and Measurement of neovascular AMD's Imaging Biomarkers
Duration:
April 1, 2010 - March 31, 2013
Co-Investigator(s):
Glenn Jaffe,
Duke University
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Summary: We are developing an open source fully-automated software program with demonstrated high accuracy that is able to detect, segment, and analyze Neovascular AMD (NVAMD) pathology seen on optical coherence tomography and compare these data to corresponding features on other imaging modalities. We anticipate that the software tools developed in this proposal will be readily adopted by clinicians, clinical study sites, and image Reading Centers to better identify NVAMD at the earliest stages, to quantify disease progression, and to measure response to therapy.
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Program: Macular Degeneration
Award Type: Standard
$100,000
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Thomas A. Ferguson, Ph.D.
Washington University
St. Louis, MO, United States
Title:
The Role of Autophagy in Age-related Eye Disease
Non-Technical Title:
The Role of the Cell's Recycling System in the Development of Blinding Eye Diseases
Duration:
July 1, 2011 - June 30, 2013
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Summary: Autophagy (self-eating) is a recycling process for our cells that continuously clears damaged structures and recycles the ingredients to maintain proper cellular function. As we get older this recycling system does not work very well and this can leads to diseases of aging such as Alzheimer's and Age-related Macular Degeneration. Our studies will determine how important this process is for vision and if we can use this information to develop a new therapy to treat blinding eye disorders.
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Program: Macular Degeneration
Award Type: Standard
$100,000
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Jonathan L. Haines, Ph.D.
Vanderbilt University Medical Center
Nashville, TN, United States
Title:
The Genetics of AMD in African-Americans
Non-Technical Title:
The Genetics of Age-Related Macular Degeneration in African-Americans
Duration:
July 1, 2011 - June 30, 2013
Co-Investigator(s):
Anita Agarwal, M.D.
Vanderbilt University
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Summary: The primary goal of this project is ascertain at least 100 African-American individuals with age-related macular degeneration and 100 African-American unrelated controls. We will use multiple modalities to identify and enroll these individuals. We will then test this dataset for known genetic risk factors to determine if these effects generalize in the African-American population.
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Program: Macular Degeneration
Award Type: Standard
$100,000
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Peter Humphries, Ph.D.
Trinity College Dublin
Dublin, Ireland
Title:
The Inflammasome and Novel Therapeutic Targets in AMD
Non-Technical Title:
Inflammation and AMD
Duration:
July 1, 2011 - June 30, 2013
Co-Investigator(s):
Matthew Campbell, B.Sc. (Hons), Ph.D.
Trinity College Dublin
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Summary: Our proposed research will aim to identify and implicate a novel inflammatory pathway in the progression of AMD. This pathway is termed the "inflammasome" and the identification of novel therapeutic targets for AMD could pave the way for more robust and reliable therapies for both dry and wet AMD. Indeed, if the inflammasome were to be implicated in the development of AMD, the targets for potential therapies would be greatly improved. Moreover, low molecular weight inhibitors or indeed augmenters of inflammasome component activation could also be investigated for therapeutic use.
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Program: Macular Degeneration
Award Type: Standard
$100,000
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David R. Hyde, Ph.D.
University of Notre Dame
Notre Dame, IN, United States
Title:
Generating a Zebrafish Model to Study AMD
Non-Technical Title:
New Model of Macular Degeneration
Duration:
July 1, 2011 - June 30, 2013
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Summary: This project will address if the loss of retinal pigmented epithelial (RPE) cells is the primary or secondary cause of cone cell loss in macular degeneration. Using zebrafish, which possesses the ability to regenerate photoreceptor cells in the eye, we will also examine if the damaged RPE cells can be regenerated and the subsequent consequences on cone photoreceptor cell regeneration.
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Program: Macular Degeneration
Award Type: Standard
$100,000
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Bruce Ksander, Ph.D.
The Schepens Eye Research Institute
Boston, MA, United States
Title:
NALP3 Activation Triggers Development of AMD
Non-Technical Title:
Inflammation as a Trigger of Age Related Macular Degeneration
Duration:
July 1, 2011 - June 30, 2013
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Summary: Age related Macular Degeneration (AMD) causes loss of vision and blindness in elderly patients when two types of cells are damaged (i) RPE (called retinal pigment epithelial cells), and (ii) photoreceptors. We discovered a gene (called NALP3) is expressed in retinal cells during development of AMD. We predict this gene is important in triggering
this disease via the activation of localized inflammation.
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Program: Macular Degeneration
Award Type: Standard
$99,836
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Aparna Lakkaraju, Ph.D.
Board of Regents of the University of Wisconsin System
Madison, WI
Title:
Apolipoprotein E And Cholesterol Lowering Drugs In Age-Related Macular Degeneration
Non-Technical Title:
Cholesterol homeostasis and age-related macular degeneration
Duration:
April 1, 2009 - March 31, 2013
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Summary: The specific aims outlined in this proposal will provide a cell biological understanding of the role of a protein called apolipoprotein E and the regulation of cholesterol levels in the retinal pigment epithelial (RPE) tissue of the eye). We will also investigate the potential of two promising drugs, statins and PPARgamma agonists, which are currently being used to treat, respectively, atherosclerosis and diabetes. These drugs will be tested for their ability to maintain cholesterol balance in the RPE.
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Program: Macular Degeneration
Award Type: Standard
$100,000
