Midwest eye-Banks' RepoRt to the CoMMunity July 1, 2007-June 30 ...

Midwest Eye-Banks
research grants offer a
vision of the future
Dr. Tom Glaser, of the University of
Michigan Medical School, received
one of 12 Research Grant Awards
from Midwest Eye-Banks in 2008.
in keeping with its mission to restore
sight by any means possible, Midwest
Eye-Banks offered eye and vision
researchers a landmark $197,400 in 2008
for the 2008-09 fiscal year. This funding,
which represents a high point in research
grant funding, provided seed money to a
dozen promising research projects, and
also included five stipends awarded to
university students in new Jersey, illinois
and Michigan.
The Eye-Bank supports eye and vision
research to offer help and hope for
those whose blindness can’t be reversed
through corneal transplantation. Grant recipients are selected after
careful project review by Midwest Eye-Banks’ prestigious Research
Review Committee, comprised of volunteer members of the medical
and academic community, many of whom have previously served on
national institute of
“I’m very grateful for the funding. It means a
lot, and it means a lot to the families, too.”
Health Study Sections
to review niH grant
applications. These
respected scientists
donate their time and expertise to review each proposal in detail,
ensuring that any Eye-Bank funding will be used appropriately and
that the proposals carry sufficient scientific merit.
“i think the committee members work together quite harmoniously,”
says Dr. Peter Ward, who has been an active participant in the Research
Review Committee since its inception in 1980. “Each grant gets at least
two reviewers, then it’s discussed at the (annual) meeting.”
according to Ward, the board is usually in consensus about who
should receive grant funding. “it’s rare that there is a minority
opinion,” he says.
When reviewing grant applications, committee members look for
research projects that are both feasible and original. They also take the
researchers’ background and experience into account, ensuring that
the researcher has both the technical ability and access to appropriate
resources to carry out the proposed project. above all, they look for
the projects that have the best chance of gaining niH funding and
contributing to the restoration of sight.
Because the Eye-Bank’s grants are significantly smaller than niH
grants, the Research Review Committee doesn’t expect the same
Page 4 | midwest eye-banks — dedicated to the RestoRation oF sight
amount of preliminary data necessary to qualify for an niH grant.
in fact, in many cases, Midwest Eye-Banks’ grants help fund research
aimed at gathering data for niH grants.
“The expectation of the review committee is that a significant number
(of researchers) will use their grants to gather data for niH grants,”
says Ward. “Sometimes this is the only way to fund the cost of doing
preliminary studies.”
Grant recipient Dr. Tom Glaser, who works at University of Michigan
Medical School, echoes Ward’s sentiment. “Grant money is hard to
come by these days, particularly in the early stages,” he says.
Glaser’s research, which received Eye-Bank Grant Funding in
2008, is an effort to identify a gene that can cause Microphthalmiaanophthalmia-Coloboma
(MaC) disorders, which result in the eye
being small (Microphthalmia), missing (anophthalmia) or clefted
(Coloboma).
Glaser and his colleague, Dr. Christine nelson, have identified a
family that seems to have a genetic
predisposition to MaC disorders.
Two children in the family – secondcousins
– are affected, and twelve
family members have been identified
as carriers. Complicating their search for a cause is the fact that some
people seem to have the mutated gene, but don’t have any outward
expression of it.
new technology allows Glaser and
his team to examine 6,000 Dna
markers from all 12 carriers of the
mutated gene on a single slide. From
these markers, they’ve narrowed their
focus to 40 genes.
as his research progresses, Glaser
plans to test other patients from
different families.
Once the gene is identified, Glaser and his staff can attempt to figure
out why the gene mutation affects some people, but not others. Glaser
believes it may be a combination of genetics and some external factor,
such as the environment, or the gene itself could be a receptor for a
vitamin that aids in eye development. The gene’s expression and the
severity of the condition could also be dependent upon which parent
passes along the mutated gene. continued on page 5