Glaucoma Research Foundation Announces $2.5 Million in Grants to Cure Glaucoma

SAN FRANCISCO, March 14, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Glaucoma Research Foundation (GRF) today announced a total of $2.5 million in annual research grants to support innovative research to cure glaucoma and restore vision. Grants were awarded to 18 investigators at prominent universities in the United States, Nigeria, and Hong Kong.

"This is the largest annual research budget in our 46-year history, said Thomas M. Brunner, GRF President and CEO. It's the first time we've had two Catalyst for a Cure initiatives running concurrently plus the greatest number of Shaffer Research Grants we have funded in a single year. Brunner added, "The Vision Restoration Initiative and the Initiative to Prevent and Cure Neurodegeneration are making new discoveries bringing us closer to a cure for glaucoma."

Glaucoma Research Foundation is awarding $1 million to the Catalyst for a Cure Vision Restoration Initiative principal investigators to continue their promising research toward restoring vision in glaucoma, and $800,000 to the Catalyst for a Cure Initiative to Prevent and Cure Neurodegeneration. Ten one-year, $55,000 Shaffer Grants will be awarded to support research into glaucoma genetics and new treatment for glaucoma.

"In August we'll bring together scientists we fund with some of the brightest scientific minds in vision research for our annual Catalyst Meeting in Boston," said Andrew G. Iwach, MD, GRF Board Chair. "GRF is doing our best to invest in research that brings us closer to our goal of curing glaucoma and restoring vision, while at the same time developing better solutions for patients today."

Catalyst for a Cure Research Collaboration

Principal investigators: Xin Duan, PhD, UC San Francisco; Yang Hu, MD, PhD, Stanford; Anna La Torre, PhD, UC Davis; and Derek Welsbie, MD, PhD, UC San Diego; Sandro Da Mesquita, PhD, Mayo Clinic; Milica Margeta, MD, PhD, Mass Eye and Ear; Karthik Shekhar, PhD, UC Berkeley; and Humsa Venkatesh, PhD, Harvard.

The 2024 Shaffer Grants for Innovative Glaucoma Research

Revathi Balasubramanian, PhD
Columbia University

Kevin Chan, PhD
New York University

Bryce Chiang, MD, PhD
Stanford University

Cátia Gomes, PhD
Indiana University

Meredith Gregory-Ksander, PhD
Mass Eye and Ear, Harvard

Takaaki Kuwajima, PhD
University of Pittsburgh

Margaret MacNeil, PhD
York College, CUNY

Felipe Medeiros, MD, PhD
Bascom Palmer Eye Institute

Olusola Olawoye, MD, PhD
University of Ibadan

Samantha Sze Wan Shan, PhD
Hong Kong Polytechnic University

About Glaucoma Research Foundation.

SOURCE Glaucoma Research Foundation