Glaucoma Research Foundation Announces Record $3.06 million in Annual Research Grants to Fund their 2026 Shaffer Grants and Catalyst for a Cure Research Collaborations

SAN FRANCISCO, March 9, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- Glaucoma Research Foundation (GRF) today announced a record total $3.06 million in annual research grants to support innovative research to find cures for glaucoma and neurodegeneration, and to continue funding research for vision restoration. The grants are being awarded to twenty investigators at prominent medical institutions across the United States. "This year's historic level of research funding reflects the extraordinary commitment of our donor community, many of whom are patients and families personally affected by glaucoma," said President and CEO, Thomas Brunner.

GRF is awarding one-year, $55,000 Shaffer Grants to twelve scientists to support research into novel treatments for glaucoma. GRF is awarding $1 million to the Catalyst for a Cure Vision Restoration Initiative to continue their research toward restoring vision in glaucoma, and $1 million to the Melza M. and Frank Theodore Barr Foundation Catalyst for a Cure Initiative to Prevent and Cure Neurodegeneration. In addition, $400,00 is being directed to GRF's new Treatment Accelerator Initiative.

The 2026 Shaffer Research Grants were awarded to Kun-Che Chang, PhD, Shruthi Karnam, PhD, Kate Keller, PhD, Naoki Kiyota, MD, PhD, Gillian McLellan, PhD, Kiyoharu Miyagishima, PhD, Kerstin Nundel, PhD, Shruti Patil, PhD, Lev Prasov, MD, PhD, Maria Fernanda Suarez, PhD, Levi Todd, PhD, and Lauren Wareham, PhD.

The principal investigators in the Catalyst for a Cure Vision Restoration Initiative are Xin Duan, PhD, University of California, San Francisco; Yang Hu, MD, PhD, Stanford University School of Medicine; Anna La Torre, PhD, University of California, Davis; and Derek Welsbie, MD, PhD, Shiley Eye Institute at UC San Diego. The CFC3 team's overall research goals are to preserve, repair, and rebuild the optic nerve where damage has already resulted in vision loss.

The principal investigators in the Catalyst for a Cure Initiative to Prevent and Cure Neurodegeneration are Sandro Da Mesquita, PhD, Mayo Clinic; Milica Margeta, MD, PhD, Mass Eye and Ear; Karthik Shekhar, PhD, University of California, Berkeley; and Humsa Venkatesh, PhD, Harvard/Brigham and Women's Hospital. The CFC4 team's overall research goals are to explore similarities and differences among glaucoma and other conditions that stem from the death of neurons in the eye, brain, or spinal cord, in search of potential preventive measures and cures for all neurodegenerative diseases.

SOURCE Glaucoma Research Foundation