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Highlights from the 2009 Day of Science Meeting Hosted by the Foundation Fighting Blindness
Dr. Al Maguire captivated the Day of Science audience when he played a video of an eight-year-old boy, who after being treated with a landmark gene therapy, was able to quickly navigate an obstacle course he was previously unable to follow. The audience erupted in loud applause when Dr. Maguire added, “That boy has put away his blind cane and is now enrolled in a mainstream school.”
For several years, that has been the kind of statement that Day of Science attendees and thousands of other Foundation Fighting Blindness supporters around the world, have been waiting to hear. At the 2009 annual Day of Science in Orlando, they waited no more.
Shortly after that video was shown, John Corneille, the Chicago VisionWalk chair, who has lost most of his vision to retinitis pigmentosa, said, “This is my first Day of Science. I was hesitant to travel to this event because I had never traveled alone before. But, boy, if I had not come here, I would have missed something incredible. I could not see what was being shown on the video, but the reaction of the audience tells me how powerful seeing that would be.”
Dr. Maguire, a surgeon leading the clinical trial for Leber congenital amaurosis gene therapy at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, was joined by representatives from two other clinical trials of similar gene therapies: William Hauswirth, Ph.D., a gene development expert who is on a team for a University of Pennsylvania and University of Florida study, and Robin Ali, Ph.D., who is leading a clinical trial at Moorfields Eye Hospital in the United Kingdom. Both Dr. Hauswirth and Dr. Ali delighted attendees with reports of markedly improved vision in their study participants.
Other Day of Science presenters were Muna Naash, Ph.D., of the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center, who is using nanoparticles to develop an innovative and promising gene delivery mechanism; David Gamm, M.D., Ph.D., of the University of Wisconsin - Madison, who is able to take skin cells and genetically reprogram them to become retinal cells; and Thomas Reh, Ph.D., of the University of Washington, who is harnessing the power of embryonic stem cells to develop treatments for retinal degenerative diseases.
In his opening remarks at the trustee meeting after Day of Science, FFB Chairman and Co-Founder Gordon Gund, brought attention to the Foundation’s strong presence in the retinal research community when he noted that 225 Foundation-funded research projects were being presented this spring at one of the world’s largest ophthalmology conferences, the annual meeting of the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology.
Gund also noted that the key to maintaining FFB’s research momentum and presence during these challenging economic times will be the continued collaboration among the growing FFB family. Whether through research efforts such as the gene therapy clinical trials or events such as Dining in the Dark or VisionWalk, collaboration and teamwork are essential to achieving the greatest success. “We started out as a family, and we’ve grown into an extended family,” he said, “As the individuals who are affected by these diseases, we need to stick together and work together.”
Day of Science is an annual meeting hosted by FFB, where top retinal researchers from around the world gather to present and discuss the latest research advancements to the Foundation’s board, trustees, and other guests.
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