Sonya Babar,a first year medical student at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine.  She will work alongside Dr. Ron Silverman at the New York’s Cornell/ Weill School of Medicine on a project involving ultra-high resolution imaging of the eye.

Zachary Brown, an undergraduate at Kansas State majoring in biology, will work in Dr. Larry Takemoto’s laboratory on a project that may result in new methods of delivering medication to the eye. 

His project: Passage of Albumin Through a Lens Epithelial Cell Monolayer-A Transwell Study

Atul Gupta, an undergraduate at the University of Michigan majoring in cell biology will work at the Kellogg Eye Center in Dr. Anand Swaroop’s laboratory.  He will investigate genes associated with retinitis pigmentosa.

His project:  Interaction of RPGR, a ciliary protein mutated in Retinitis Pigmentosa with nephroretinin in mammalian retina

Matthew Hudson, a physiology major at the University of Alberta (Canada) will spend the summer working with Dr. Ian MacDonald at the University of Alberta. 

His project:  Transfection and Voltage recording of bestrophin-expressing human embryonic kidney cells: an in vitro study of Best’s Vitelliform Dystrophy

Daniel Hwang, a third year medical student at Columbia University’s will work with Dr. James Tsai at the Harkness Eye Institute.  He will study glaucoma treatments using a rat model.

His project:  Neuroprotective effect of erythropoietin in rat glaucoma model:  dose response study

Alice Irby, a first year optometry student at the University of Alabama, will work with Dr. Kent Daum investigating the relationships between intraocular pressure and vision loss among 2,450 African Americans living in Alabama.

Her project:  Relationship of Individual Characteristics of Adults in Alabama Black Belt with Intraocular Pressure and Visual Field Loss

Elizabeth Jovanovich is an undergraduate at the University of California-Berkeley majoring in molecular biology.  She will work with Dr. Christine WIldsoet at UC Berkeley’s School of Optometry measuring the eyes of young chickens raised in various environments to learn more about visual development, myopia and other refractive errors.

Her project:  Does Emmetropization use Longitudinal Chromatic Aberration as a Defucus Cue?

Beth Lassman, a graduate student in biomedical research will work alongside Dr. Gail Seigel at the University of Buffalo.  Using mice as a model, her project involves a study of retinoblastoma, a blinding eye tumor affecting young children.

Her project:  Embryonic Origins of Retinoblastoma

Vivian Lee, a third year medical student at the University of Pennsylvania, will work in Dr. Jean Bennett’s laboratory at Penn.  She will study genetic mutations that cause retinitis pigmentosa.

Her project:  In Utero Retinal Gene Therapy for a Developmental Disorder Causing Blindness

Shawn Lewis, a first year medical student at the University of Cincinnati, will spend the summer working in Dr. Ram Nagaraj’s laboratory at Cleveland’s Case Western Reserve University.  He will study the relationship between vision loss and diabetes.

His project:  Beneficial Effects of MGO in Diabetes to Prevent Retinopathy

Sumon Roy, an undergraduate majoring in Biological Sciences will work in the lab of Dr. Sayon Roy at Boston University.  He will study the possible protective nature of insulin on cell death in diabetics.

His project:  Effect of insulin against high glucose-induced apoptosis in retinal vascular cells

Ying Zhang, an undergraduate studying biology at Davidson College in North Carolina will spend the summer at Harvard’s Schepens Eye Research Institute.  Working in the lab of Dr. Dong Chen, she will investigate the regenerative potential of certain retinal cells.  

Her Project:  Molecular signals controlling the regenerative potential of retinal ganglion cell axons

In newborns born very prematurely, blood vessels supplying the retina may stop growing for a period of time; when growth resumes, blood vessel formation occurs in a disorganized fashion. This disorder, retinopathy of prematurity (ROP) is a leading cause of childhood blindness. This project will study growth factors that control the neural and vascular development in ROP, with the hope of finding effective therapies for these infants.
Dr. Akula received his doctorate in experimental psychology from Northeastern University. For the past two years he has been a research fellow in the Department of Ophthalmology at Boston’s Children’s Hospital with FFS alumni, Dr. Anne Fulton (Children’s Hospital, 1977).

Dr. Bosch’s research focuses on uveal melanoma, the most common cancer of the eye. This cancer often metastasizes to the liver and is nearly always fatal. The ideal treatment would preserve vision and protect patients from developing secondary cancers. This project involves the development of an uveal melanoma vaccine.
Dr. Bosch is a graduate of the Leiden University Medical School (Netherlands) and plans a career in ocular oncology research and clinical care. He is working in the lab of Dr. Suzanne Ostrand-Rosenberg in Biological Sciences Department at the University of Maryland.

The goal of Dr. Conley’s research is to find non-viral gene therapies that will be useful to treat inherited forms of retinal degeneration. This project focuses on treating a particular form of retinal degeneration caused by the R172W gene mutation.
Dr. Conley received her doctorate in pharmacology from the University of Arizona before joining Dr. Muna Naash’s laboratory at the University of Oklahoma. Dr. Naash, a FFS alumni (Univ. of Illinois 1994), is Associate Professor in the Department of Cell Biology.

Rod photoreceptors play a vital role in visual processing. The loss of these cells through inherited disorders such as retinitis pigmentosa or diseases like macular degeneration often results in blindness. This project seeks to understand rod photoreceptor development and the possibility that gene therapy will restore damaged retinal cells.
Dr. Donovan received her doctorate in cell and developmental biology at SUNY-Syracuse. Her fellowship is taking place under the direction of Dr. Michael Dyer in the Developmental Neurobiology laboratory at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital in Memphis.

Researchers have shown that the retinal degeneration seen in mice suffering from hypoglycemia resembles the vision loss seen in patients with age-related macular degeneration. The goal in this project is to identify and measure metabolic stress factors by examining the relationship between blood glucose levels and vision loss.
Dr. Everhart received his doctorate in molecular and cellular pharmacology from the University of Miami before he joined the Dr. Robert Barlow’s lab at the Center for Vision Research in the Department of Ophthalmology at SUNY-Upstate.

Availability of suitable donor tissue impacts the ability of eye surgeons to perform cornea transplant in patients suffering from injury, infection or degenerative disease. Dr. Karamichos will attempt to devise a suitable artificial cornea. This will require understanding both the biochemical and biomechanical signals that modulate cell behavior, as well as creating a surface with the correct optical properties.
Dr. Karamichos completed his doctorate in tissue engineering from the University College of London before joining Dr. Matthew Petroll in the Department of Ophthalmology at the University of Texas-Southwestern.

Uveitis, a leading cause of blindness, is an eye inflammation that involves intraocular structures such as the choroids, ciliary body, iris and retina. Early insults to these structures start the degenerative process and often lead to vision loss despite medical intervention. This research project involves measuring and evaluating early photoreceptor damage in patient with uveitis in an effort to develop effective treatments.
Dr. Khurana received his medical degree from Duke University Medical School and completed his residency in ophthalmology at the Doheny Eye Institute / USC. He is enrolled in a uveitis fellowship under the direction of Drs. Narsing Rao and Ronald Smith.

Of the over 700,000 stroke victims in the US each year, roughly half have a particularly debilitating form of partial blindness known as ‘neglect’. Neglect patients not only lose vision, they are unaware of this deficit and so do not compensate without extensive therapy. Most neglect patients never fully recover. This research project aims to identify the neurological causes of neglect.
Dr. Phillips received his doctorate in philosophy from Rutgers University and completed a postdoctoral year in the Visual Psychophysics Lab at City College of New York before joining Dr. Michael Goldberg’s laboratory in the Center for Neurobiology and Behavior at Columbia University.

Patients with severe and persistent corneal inflammation often lose their vision because they are poor candidates for transplantation. The inflammation provokes specific factors called alloantigens, which activate rejection. It may be possible to separate donor corneas into layers which can be reconstructed and transplanted as composite grafts, decreasing the chance of rejection. In this project, Dr. Saban will design a composite graft for use in high-risk corneal transplant patients.
Dr. Saban received his doctorate in immunology, specializing on diseases of the eye, from the University of Florida. He joined the laboratory of FFS alumni, Dr. Reza Dana (Harvard, 1998) at Schepens Eye Research Institute where his fellowship is jointly sponsored by Fight for Sight and the American Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgery.

In glaucoma, intraocular pressure is often elevated due to impairment or malfunctioning of the filtration mechanism that allows fluid to drain from the eye. The mechanics of this drainage system are not well understood; patients with increased pressure are often treated with drops that induce drainage through a secondary route. This project will study the mechanisms and effects of fluid drainage in the normal and glaucomatous eye.
Dr. Scott received his doctorate from the New England College of Optometry. He intends to pursue a career as a research-scientist and clinician. He will complete this fellowship under the direction of Dr. Haiyan Gong, an Assistant Professor in Ophthalmology at Boston University.

Many forms of inherited eye disease result in irreversible blindness because humans lack the ability to regenerate dying or diseased cells. Dr. Thummel’s research will focus on understanding why some species, like zebrafish, maintain the ability to regenerate rod and cone photoreceptor cells when they are damaged because of injury or disease. The hope is to identify candidate genes for inducing regeneration of damaged retinal cells.
Dr. Thummel received his doctorate in molecular and integrative physiology from the University of Kansas. He has joined the Center for Zebrafish Research at the University of Notre Dame, working under the direction of FFS alumni, Dr. David Hyde (Notre Dame, 1993).

Project summary: The surface of the cornea is covered by the epithelium, a thin layer of specialized skin. The epithelium can be damaged by abrasions, infections or chemical injury. We intend to find ways to regenerate the corneal epithelium in patients who have had significant damage to the surface of the eye. Using mouse models, we will examine a group of genes (Notch genes) to determine their role in regenerating cells in the corneal epithelium.

Project summary: Glaucoma is a blinding eye disease affecting approximately 70 million people worldwide. Elevated intraocular pressure is a well-known risk factor. Our goal is to investigate a candidate gene for glaucoma, (CDT6). Our preliminary studies show the protein in this gene is more abundant in glaucomatous ocular tissue, suggesting aberrant regulation of this gene. We will also investigate if CDT6 causes an increase in collagen, which could block outflow of aqueous humor, a possible cause for increased intraocular pressure.

Project summary: Choroideremia, a rare form of retinal degeneration results from mutations in the Rep1 gene. Although Rep1 is found in photoreceptor cells and in the RPE (retinal pigment epithelium), it is not known whether the photoreceptors die due to intrinsic defects or as a consequence of RPE degeneration. To better understand this problem, we are studying zebrafish that carry a mutation in the rep1 gene. These fish exhibit the same symptoms as patients with choroideremia, including retinal degeneration and blindness. By understanding of the pathology underlying choroideremia and other inherited retinal degenerative diseases, it may be possible to design effective therapies.

Project summary: AMD or Age-related Macular Degeneration is the leading cause of blindness among older Americans. The causes of AMD involve both genetic and environmental factors, leading to vision loss due to photoreceptor cell death. Stem cell transplantation has emerged as a potential therapy for AMD. Using a mouse model, we will test the ability of adult and embryonic stem cells to integrate and differentiate in the host retina and to determine the role of these cells in affecting degeneration of retinal cells.

Project summary: Stromal Corneal dystrophies are a group of blinding eye diseases, characterized by corneal thickness due to abnormal protein aggregations. Mutations in human genes, in particular BIGH3, are believed to be the primary causes for these diseases. Surgical treatments such as cornea transplants and keratectomy are often performed on these patients but fail to prevent recurrence. In this study, we will develop a therapeutic strategy with chemically modified peptides to prevent and dissemble the protein aggregations in the cornea. A non-invasive, yet effective treatment will provide great benefit to these patients.