Grant Recipients
Advancing Scientific Research
These research scientists were awarded grants for their innovative research and recognition for their work in the areas of macular degeneration, gene therapy, stem cell research and neuroscience of visual pathways. They each display potential for making significant progress in understanding root causes of blindness and developing cures.
2021
Christopher R. Fetsch, PhD
Assistant Professor of Neuroscience, Johns Hopkins University
Research: “Patterned microstimulation as proof of concept for prosthetic 3D motion vision”
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Safal Khanal, OD, PhD, FAAO
Assistant Professor, Department of Optometry and Vision Science, The University of Alabama at Birmingham
Research: “The role of S-cone neural activity in eye growth regulation and refractive development”
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Kazuhira Kurokawa, PhD
Assistant Scientist, Legacy Research Institute | Devers Eye Institute, Portland, OR
Research: “Multifunctional high-resolution imaging in the living retina to study glaucoma pathophysiology at the cellular and subcellular scale”
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Liang Liang, PhD
Assistant Professor, Department of Neuroscience, Yale University School of Medicine
Research: “Elucidating the Roles of Local Inhibition in Thalamic Visual Processing”
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Joel B. Miesfeld, PhD
Assistant Professor, Department of Ophthalmology & Visual Sciences, The Eye Institute | Medical College of Wisconsin
Research: “Investigation of RGC number as a glaucoma risk factor”
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Carlos R. Ponce, MD, PhD
Assistant Professor, Department of Neurobiology, Harvard Medical School
Research: “Understanding naturalistic vision in primates using machine learning”
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2019
Christian Burgess, PhD
Assistant Professor, Molecular and Integrative Physiology Department and Michigan Neuroscience Institute, University of Michigan Medical School
Research: “Circuit mechanisms underlying sleep-dependent plasticity in visual cortex”
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Leah Byrne, PhD
Assistant Professor, Ophthalmology, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine
Research: “A modular system for gene and protein delivery to the retina based on AAV”
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Ross Collery, PhD
Assistant Professor, Ophthalmology & Visual Sciences, Assistant Professor of Cell Biology, Medical School of Wisconsin Eye Institute
Research: “Understanding genetic causes of retinal degeneration and refractive error using zebrafish”
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Jamie Berta Spangler, PhD
Assistant Professor, Biomedical Engineering & Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine
Research: “Engineered anti-angiogenic proteins to treat retinal eye diseases”
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Santani Teng, PhD
Associate Scientist, The Smith-Kettlewell Eye Research Institute
Research: “Cortical and Perceptual Dynamics of Echolocation in Blindness-An EEG Study”
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2018
Cagri Besirli, MD, PhD
Skillman Career Development Professor of Pediatric Ophthalmology
Adult and Pediatric Vitreoretinal Surgery
Assistant Professor, Ophthalmology & Visual Sciences, Kellogg Eye Center University of Michigan
Research: “The Role of Hexokinase-2 in Photoreceptor Survival during Metabolic Stress”
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David Myung, MD, PhD
Assistant Professor, Ophthalmology, Byers Eye Institute, Stanford University Medical Center and by courtesy, Chemical Engineering Co-Director, Ophthalmic Innovation Program and Director, Teleophthalmology VA Palo Alto Health Care System
Research: “Sutureless Corneal Reconstruction through In Situ-Forming Collagen Gels”
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Jillian N. Pearring, PhD
Assistant Professor, Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences, Kellogg Eye Center University of Michigan
Research: “Photoreceptor Outer Segment Regeneration: Understanding the Molecular Programs and Dynamic Cellular Processes”
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Raunak Sinha, PhD
Assistant Professor, Department of Neuroscience, School of Medicine and Public Health University of Wisconsin-Madison
Research: “Understanding cone signaling in the fovea”
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2017
Alan Brown, PhD
Assistant Professor, Department of Biological Chemistry & Molecular, Harvard Medical School
Research: “Visualizing rhodopsin trafficking by cryo-EM”
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Xin Duan, PhD
Assistant Professor, Departments of Ophthalmology and Physiology, Weill Institute for Neurosciences, University of California San Francisco
Research: “Regenerating Axons across Diversified Retinal Ganglion Cell Subtypes”
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Anirvan Nandy, PhD
Assistant Professor, Department of Neuroscience, Yale University
Research: “The impact of eye-movements on neural dynamics and cortical organization”
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Sui Wang, PhD
Assistant Professor, Ophthalmology, Stanford University School of Medicine
Research: “Understanding the molecular mechanisms underlying glial responses to retinal injury and disease”
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2016
Leo A. Kim, MD, PhD
Assistant Professor of Ophthalmology, the Schepens Eye Research Institute, Harvard Medical School
Research: “Role of Runx1 in Retinopathy of Prematurity”
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Kira Poskanzer, PhD
Assistant Professor of Biochemistry & Biophysics, University of California, San Francisco, CA
Research: “Astrocytic modulation of primary visual cortex”
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Rajesh C Rao, MD
Assistant Professor, Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences, Kellogg Eye Center, University of Michigan
Research: “Epigenetic dissection of hereditary macular degeneration: a stem cell approach”
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2015
Damon Clark, PhD
Assistant Professor, Molecular, Cellular & Development Biology, Yale University
Research: “How do multiple motion signals guide behavior in a small visual circuit”
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Evan Feinberg, PhD
Assistant Professor, Department of Anatomy, UCSF
Research: “Dissecting the roles of the superior colliculus and visual cortex in behavior”
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Yvonne Ou, MD
Assistant Professor of Ophthalmology, University of California, San Francisco
Research: “Early steps of circuit disassembly in glaucoma”
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Glenn C. Yiu, MD, PhD
Assistant Professor of Ophthalmology, UC Davis
Research: “Targeted drug delivery to the retinal pigment epithelium and choroidal vasculature using optically-triggered nanoparticles”
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2014
Bart G. Borghuis, PhD
Assistant Professor, Dept. of Anatomical Sciences & Neurobiology, University of Louisville
Research: “Synaptic mechanisms for parallel processing in retinal circuitry”
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Felice A. Dunn
Assistant Professor, Department of Ophthalmology
Research: “Uncovering the mechanisms of circuit disassembly in the damaged mammalian retina”
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Yang Sun, MD, PhD
Assistant Professor of Ophthalmology, Indiana University
Research: “Targeting inositol signaling in primary cilia to treat glaucoma”
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Derek S. Welsbie, MD, PhD
Assistant Professor of Ophthalmology, University of California, San Diego
Research: “Developing neuroprotective strategies that could complement pressure lowering by directly interfering with the RGC-intrinsic degeneration pathways”
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2013
Jeremy N. Kay, PhD
Assistant Professor of Neurobiology and Ophthalmology, Duke University Eye Center
Research: “Cellular and molecular mechanisms that assemble retinal direction-selective circuitry”
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Wei Wei, PhD
Assistant Professor, Department of Neurobiology, The University of Chicago
Research: “Understanding motion detection in the retina”
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Sujata Rao, PhD
Assistant Staff, Opthalmic Research, The Cleveland Clinic
Research: “Circadian Regulation of Eye Development”
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2012
Kevin K. Park, PhD
Assistant Professor, Department of Neurological Surgery, University of Miami Miller School of Medicine
Research: “Novel Combinatorial Approaches to Enhance Retinal Ganglion Cell Survival and Axon Regeneration after Optic Nerve Injury”
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Jonathan Sears, MD
Associate Professor of Ophthalmology, Cole Eye Institute
Research: “Prevention of Retinopathy of Prematurity”
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2011
Yingbin Fu, PhD
Assistant Professor, Department of Opthalmology & Visual Sciences, John A. Moran Eye Center, University of Utah
Research: “Mechanisms and Treatment Strategies for Leber Congenital Amaurosis”
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Michael R. Taylor, PhD
Assistant Member, Chemical Biology & Therapeutics, St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital
Research: “Uncovering the Role of L-type Voltage-dependent Calcium Channels in the Formation of Photoreceptor Synaptic Ribbons”
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Jun Yang, PhD
Assistant Professor of Ophthalmology and Visual Science, The University of Utah, John A. Moran Eye Center
Research: “Formation and Function(s) of the Usher 2 Protein Complex in Photoreceptors”
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2010
Stephen A. Baccus, PhD
Assistant Professor, Stanford University School of Medicine, Dept. of Neurobiology
Research: “Understanding Computation in the Interneuron Population of the Retina Using Simultaneous Multi-photon Imaging and Multi-electrode Recording”
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David M. Gamm, PhD
Assistant Professor, Dept. of Ophthalmology and Visual Science, University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health, Madison, WI
Research: “The Role of MITF in Early Retinal Fate Determination in Human Embryonic Stem Cells”
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Alecia K. Gross, PhD
Assistant Professor, Dept. of Vision Sciences, University of Alabama at Birmingham
Research: “Rhodopsin Trafficking in Transgenic Tadpoles”
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Andrew Huberman, PhD
Assistant Professor, Dept. of Neurosciences, School of Medicine and Section of Neurobiology in the Division of Biological Sciences, University of California at San Diego
Research: “Molecular Determinants of Synaptic Target Choice in the Developing Visual System”
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