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Columbia, MD – March 14, 2011 – The Foundation Fighting Blindness (www.FightBlindness.org) announces it has received a $90,000 grant from the Sarah K. de Coizart Article TENTH Perpetual Charitable Trust to fund retinal disease research in the greater New York area. The grant will help support five medical research projects at the Foundation’s Greater New York Regional Research Center for the Study of Retinal Degenerative Diseases, which links researchers at Columbia University and the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey.
“The generous funding we receive from partners like the Sarah K. de Coizart Article TENTH Perpetual Charitable Trust is vital to research that will lead to preventions, treatments and cures for vision-robbing retinal diseases that affect more than 10 million Americans,” said Bill Schmidt, chief executive officer, Foundation Fighting Blindness.
The grant funded by the Sarah K. de Coizart Article TENTH Perpetual Charitable Trust will help sustain five complementary studies on retinitis pigmentosa, age-related macular degeneration, juvenile macular degeneration (Stargardt), and related diseases. Such studies are critical building blocks for advancing potential treatments to clinical trials. These five Foundation Fighting Blindness-funded pre-clinical projects are:
• A Columbia University study that will lead to better understanding of the relationships between mutations in the ABCA4 gene that cause Stargardt disease and the clinical characteristics of the disease. Researchers believe that they will be able to use the genetic information to predict the rate of disease progression, which will lead to being able to better inform patient’s about their prognosis.
• A University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey pre-clinical study that explores approaches to enhancing survival of transplanted retinal cells to preserve or restore vision in patients with an advanced form of dry age-related macular degeneration.
• In collaboration with the above study, a Columbia University study of age-related changes in Bruch’s membrane and RPE cells that will provide invaluable information regarding how to most effectively transplant cells to treat macular degeneration.
• A Columbia University pre-clinical study of using gene therapy to treat Stargardt disease, also known as juvenile macular degeneration.
• A Columbia University study that is building a comprehensive picture of the changes that occur in the retinas of those with Stargardt disease.
About Foundation Fighting Blindness
The Foundation Fighting Blindness is a national nonprofit driving blindness research that will lead to preventions, treatments and cures for retinitis pigmentosa, macular degeneration, Usher syndrome and the entire spectrum of retinal degenerative diseases that affect 10 million Americans. In its 40-year history, the Foundation has raised more than $425 million as the leading non-governmental funder of retinal research. With a network of 50 chapters, the Foundation also provides free disease information and low vision resources to affected individuals and their families. Most recently, a breakthrough Foundation-funded study using gene therapy restored significant vision in children and young adults who were previously blind, paving the way for using this method to treat a wide variety of retinal degenerative diseases, and proving a cure is in sight. |
