• Home
  • News
    • Politics & Government
    • Business & Economy
    • Crime / Courts
    • Health / Medicine
  • Sports
    • High School Sports
    • Radio Iowa Poll
  • Affiliates
    • Affiliate Support Page
  • Contact Us
    • Reporters

Radio Iowa

Iowa's Radio News Network

You are here: Home / Health / Medicine / U-I reasearchers win grant to study glaucoma

U-I reasearchers win grant to study glaucoma

July 8, 2009 By admin

University of Iowa researchers have landed a $3.6 million federal grant to study glaucoma, a disease that can permanently rob people of their vision. Dr. John Fingert, an ophthalmology professor at the U-of-I, is the study’s principal investigator.

"In America, it’s the second most common cause of blindness," Fingert says. "It’s the leading cause of blindness among African Americans. It’s also a common cause of vision disability. Many people aren’t considered blind but have lost significant vision." Glaucoma targets the optic nerve, which connects the eye to the brain.

Fingert says the team will be working to identify how the disease is passed from parent to child. "We’re interested in identifying genetic risk factors for glaucoma," Fingert says. "We’re looking for the genes that may predispose some people to be at higher risk for getting this vision problem than others."

While researchers can measure signs of glaucoma, like damage to the optic nerve and vision loss, he says the events that lead to glaucoma aren’t yet well known. That’s hindering efforts for early detection and treatment. Part of the research will involve people who took part in a large glaucoma treatment trial, called the Ocular Hypertension Treatment Study. He says another part will involve mice.

Fingert says, "One of my close collaborators, Dr. Michael Anderson, is a professor in physiology and he’s an expert in mouse genetics and he’s going to be doing parallel experiments using studies of inbred mice." This project also will involve U-of-I researchers in molecular physiology, biophysics, statistics and actuarial sciences, biostatics and biomedical engineering.

The five-year grant for the U-of-I research is from the National Institutes of Health.

 

Share this:

  • Facebook
  • Twitter

Filed Under: Health / Medicine Tagged With: University of Iowa

Featured Stories

Final employee who was there at the launch of the Iowa Lottery to retire

No more USPS mail in Iowa prisons; inmates to get copies of mail

State officials warn of influx of fake prescription drugs laced with fentanyl

‘Brain-eating amoeba’ discovered in Taylor County lake

Cedar Rapids therapist’s relationship with student leads to years in prison

TwitterFacebook
Tweets by RadioIowa

Northern Iowa’s Farley touts new practice facility

First minor league game gets things started tonight at Field of Dreams site

Knoxville set to host sprint car racing’s biggest event

Iowa State basketball builds on its identity

Vance provides leadership for ISU defense

More Sports

eNews and Updates

Enter your email address:

Delivered by FeedBurner

Archives

Copyright © 2022 ยท Learfield News & Ag, LLC