This social media campaign has helped to spread critical awareness of the Foundation’s work and provide well-deserved recognition to folks who are making a difference on the front lines every day.

After a six-week flurry of nominations, votes, shares, likes and new Foundation Facebook fans, the tallies are in. It is our pleasure to announce the top finishers:

The #1 Foundation Fighting Blindness Front Lines Fan is Carley Colton (pictured above), president of our Houston Chapter, with a whopping 3,154 votes. She’ll receive the grand prize trip for two to the Foundation’s national conference, VISIONS 2013, in June. Currently a 1st grade teacher in Houston, Carley was diagnosed with Stargardt disease in 2004 while a sophomore at Texas A&M University. She’s lost a significant amount of central vision but is hopeful for a cure and determined to help “give blindness the boot,” as she likes to say (showing those Texas roots!)

Second place goes to Mandy Joyce of Ft. Worth, Texas, who also has Stargardt disease.

Our third place finisher is Deanna Boylan of Medford, New York, who is affected by Leber congenital amaurosis (LCA).

Through this campaign, we made great things happen:

If you participated by nominating, voting or sharing the contest with your network, thank you for doing your part on the front lines!

A coalition of more than 50 like-minded professional groups, companies and disease foundations like FFB, NAEVR’s members have one common goal: to advocate for eye and vision research sponsored by the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the National Eye Institute (NEI) and other federal research entities.

FFB has long been a part of NAEVR’s effort, strongly represented for many years by our own board president, Ed Gollob, whom I’d like to thank for his service. Ed recently passed the NAEVR torch on to me, and at a very critical time for vision research.

The U.S. Congress’ “sequestration” reduced the NIH’s budget by 5.1 percent, or $1.6 billion, which translates to a loss of $36 million for NEI. That means roughly 90 new research grants will not be funded if Congress doesn’t come up with an alternative plan.

The idea that one or more of those grants could help develop treatments for retinal diseases makes Congress’ inaction unacceptable. So NAEVR’s ongoing advocacy efforts are more important than ever, and the Foundation’s involvement in steering that ship stands to benefit our retinal disease community. The bottom line: The more federal money being directed to NIH, NEI and other agencies contributing to medical research, the better for our end goal of eradicating blindness.

Yet again, I find myself coming back to collaboration. We at FFB are working hard to raise funds and invest them in promising lab studies, early-stage translational research and clinical trials. But we can’t do it alone. NIH is the largest funder of biomedical research in the world, so it’s a vital collaborator in advancing sight-saving treatments from bench to bedside.

NAEVR recently announced its NIH and NEI funding recommendations for the government’s fiscal year 2014, which begins in October. It called for a 4.5 percent increase in the NIH’s budget, which would bring it to $32 billion total and $730 million for the NEI. I look forward to being involved with this push as well as NAEVR’s effort to educate Congress through briefings and Capitol Hill testimony.

It’s our job to raise the alarm about the negative impact of sequestration. Not only does it limit funding of cutting-edge vision research; it also costs people jobs and the nation billions of dollars in economic output in the life sciences sector.

The Foundation’s collaborative work with NAEVR and other organizations is moving the needle toward a day when every man, woman and child diagnosed with a retinal disease will have sight-saving treatment options available to them.

So we came up with an idea – the Front Lines Fan campaign. First and foremost, we want to celebrate everyone who’s truly on the Foundation’s front lines. They’re the folks doing any number of things: running local chapter meetings, racing and walking for a cure, developing treatments in laboratories, donating funds and promoting FFB across social media, to name just a few.

But we also want to give people on the front lines an opportunity to be recognized—and win a prize along the way. Our Front Lines Fan (FLF) contest is explained, in detail, on the FLF web page, or you can check out the video below:

Either way, we encourage you to nominate either yourself or someone you consider a deserving FLF, then gather the votes necessary to win one of three prizes below:

• Grand Prize: A free trip for two to our annual national conference, VISIONS 2013, in Baltimore, Maryland
• Second Place: A $100 VISA gift card
• Third Place: A $50 Amazon gift card

The grand prize, in particular, will give you the chance to attend FFB’s national conference, where, aside from mixing it up with others on the front lines, you’ll learn the latest about research and have a chance to attend networking, coping and assistive-technology sessions.

So, get out there and nominate. Then vote. And, always, celebrate those on the front lines furthering the Foundation’s cause.

I’ll always remember my first Foundation Fighting Blindness conference, when I heard Dr. Dean Bok, of the University of California, Los Angeles, discuss the retina’s design and how it worked. I was new to the field and just learning. Dr. Bok opened his presentation by saying that, as a student, he was “seduced” by the beauty of retinal science. By the end of his impassioned talk, I, too, was hooked.

And, now, I’m always excited to speak and write about this magical piece of tissue. Even though the best retinal researchers still don’t understand the science completely, I think everyone can appreciate the basics, including how to keep their retinas as healthy as possible.

How the Retina Works

So what does the retina do? In simple terms, it converts light into electrical signals that are sent through the optic nerve to the brain, where they’re interpreted as vision. Put another way, the retina is like film in a camera — for those of us old enough to remember when film had to be loaded into a camera.

The photoreceptors — a.k.a., rods and cones — are the elongated retinal cells (like antennae) that transform light into electricity through a complex biochemical process fueled by vitamin A. Rods provide night and peripheral vision. Cones, which are concentrated in the macula (central retina), enable people to perceive details, colors and objects. Approximately 125 million photoreceptors are packed into each human retina.

While the retina is small — it’s a circular tissue just 35 millimeters in diameter (a little bigger than a quarter) and half a millimeter thick — it’s a real workhorse. In fact, the retina processes more oxygen for its size than any other tissue or organ in the body, including the heart and lungs. Not only does it provide vision during waking hours, the tips of photoreceptors are shed, disposed and regenerated during sleep. For the retina, there’s always work to be done.

Inherited retinal diseases often originate in photoreceptors, but there are a number of other cell types in the retina that can be affected. These other cells may provide nutrition, waste disposal and image-processing.

Keeping the Retina Healthy

Whether or not you have a retinal disease, there are things you can do to keep the retina healthy and functioning optimally. As we always say at the Foundation, what’s good for your heart is good for your eyes.

First and foremost, don’t smoke. It is the most significant modifiable risk factor for age-related macular degeneration, and research has shown that just one cigarette’s worth of nicotine reduces retinal sensitivity.

Also, eat lots of colorful vegetables and fruits, which are rich in antioxidants, such as lutein and zeaxanthin. In fact, these antioxidants are present in the retina, especially in the macula. They help protect the retina from light damage and daily wear-and-tear.

Docosahexaenoic acid (DHA), a healthy fat, is another important nutrient that protects retinal cells and keeps them functioning well. DHA is abundant in coldwater fish, such as tuna, salmon, herring and sardines. It is also available in fish oil or vegetarian supplements.

Protecting your eyes from bright sunlight is also important. Always wear sunglasses that screen out UV rays and a wide-brimmed hat when in the sunshine.

And, finally — again, whether or not you have a retinal disease — see an eye doctor immediately if you experience sudden changes in vision. The sooner you get help, the better chance the problem can be resolved and vision saved or restored.

Conditions like wet age-related macular degeneration and retinal detachments can be treated.  And while a doctor can’t yet treat an inherited retinal disease, there are related complications, such as cystoids macular edema (swelling), which may be resolved with a medication.

For More Information

To learn more about the retina and emerging treatments, visit the Foundation’s website and return regularly to Eye on the Cure. Both sites are chock-full of articles and posts on the latest advancements. Also, feel free to ask questions in the comments section of each blog post or send them to info@fightblindness.org. It’s our pleasure to keep you informed.

Pictured, above: An image of a mouse retina captured by Dr. Luca Della Santina, University of Washington.

This week is cause for celebration at the Foundation Fighting Blindness, because it was exactly a year ago, today, that we launched Eye on the Cure. In the debut post, Dr. Steve Rose, our chief research officer, wrote that, with any research project FFB considers funding, he asks himself, “Is the juice worth the squeeze?” In other words, is the project worth the time and resources necessary to get it up and running? He posited that Eye on the Cure was well worth the squeeze because it was an “opportunity to share not only our expertise, but the expertise of those in the field we consider invaluable.”

Well, after one year and 98 posts (the one you’re reading makes 99), we can look back with pride on the “juice” we’ve produced thus far. Early on, Dr. Rose, as our primary blogger, took the lead in explaining basic retinal science as well the diseases FFB targets and the lab and clinical work it supports and funds.

He even took our readers on a few research-oriented trips – a seminar in Boca Raton, for instance, meetings with FFB partners in Israel and the annual ARVO conference.

Highlights from Eye on the Cure’s First Year
Tell us what you think about Eye on the Cure

But Dr. Rose, as you can imagine, is a busy guy. So we’ve since introduced a variety of guest bloggers (Dr. David Gamm, Patricia Zilliox, Michael Stone) as well as recurring contributors (John Corneille, Mrs. World April Lufriu), so as to cover the gamut of what the Foundation does to raise funds and awareness and fuel cutting-edge research. In fact, Eye on the Cure served as FFB’s platform for sharing the wealth of information and experiences provided by our VISIONS 2012 conference last summer, in Minneapolis.

All posts are shared on Twitter and Facebook, where we’ve received lots of “likes” and positive feedback, much of it shared across readers’ social networks. So, aside from thanking the bloggers who’ve contributed this past year, we thank you, the reader, for making Eye on the Cure a success.

That said, we’re not resting on laurels. Whether you’re a first-time reader or return visitor, I invite you to fill out this survey. Let us know what you enjoy reading about and would like to see more of – or see, period, if we haven’t covered it yet. Over the next year, as we follow the research moving us closer to treatments and cures, we want to ensure we’re offering compelling, informative and valuable posts.

This is, of course, a birthday celebration.  So below, or in the photo grid above, you’ll find a list of posts serving as both highlights and a diverse sampling of Eye on the Cure’s first year. You may have seen some or all of them already. Regardless, I think you’ll find them “worth the squeeze.”

• The Foundation’s 5 Most Asked Questions About Clinical Trials
• A Truly Grand Dame
• Driving: A Very Familiar Story …Sort Of
• Gene Therapies for Stargardt Disease and Wet AMD Deemed Safe Thus Far
• Top 12 Research Advancements of 2012
• We’ve Been Googled
• Have I Got a Cure for You! Debunking an Alleged Treatment on the Internet
• Kicking Off a Charitable Season
• The iPhone as Assistive Technology: The Good, The Bad and The Funny