Health
USC Eye Trauma Program Wins Federal Funding
- Mark Humayun is part of a research team whose work on eye trauma will be supported by Department of Defense funding.
- Photo/Steve Cohn
By Leslie Ridgeway on March 8, 2010 1:05 PM
Restoring sight for combat troops who have suffered eye injuries in battle is one of the goals of a research program based at the Keck School of Medicine of USC, which will be supported by $800,000 in funding from the Department of Defense.
The Eye Trauma and Visual Restoration (EyeTVR) program funding request was submitted and supported by Rep. Adam B. Schiff (D-Pasadena), representing California’s 29th Congressional District. The funding is part of the federal fiscal year 2010 budget under the congressional special interest program.
The program brings together innovation in biomedical engineering, genetic medicine and regenerative medicine technologies to pave the way for unparalleled advances that promise to save, and even restore, sight to troops with traumatic eye injuries. The broader goal of the program is to save and restore sight to veterans and veterans’ family members who suffer eye injury, eye infection and inherited or age-related eye disease. The new applications developed through the program are expected to eventually be available to the public.
A secondary benefit of the program funding will be the creation of jobs for scientists and staff in the Los Angeles and Pasadena areas and the creation of job training opportunities for students. The project includes ophthalmologists, engineers and scientists from leading institutions in Los Angeles and Pasadena.
The program, to be coordinated by the Keck School, will involve researchers from that school, the USC Viterbi School of Engineering, Doheny Eye Institute, the Huntington Medical Research Institute, the California Institute of Technology and Pasadena City College.
“Iraq war veterans are experiencing more than double the traumatic eye and brain injuries of World War II combat troops,” said Carmen A. Puliafito, dean of the Keck School dean and an ophthalmologist who will advise the program. “Modern medicine has saved more troops’ lives than ever. The EyeTVR program, supported by Congressman Schiff, will help us develop the tools we need to apply the success of modern medicine to the complex injuries related to eye trauma and loss of sight suffered by our soldiers and Marines.
“I’m also excited that the new technologies will be immediately applicable to saving and restoring sight in individuals with blinding diseases such as inherited retinal degeneration or age-related macular degeneration.”
Schiff noted that top researchers and scientists in the Los Angeles and Pasadena areas are collaborating on the project.
“Roadside bombs, grenades and mortars are causing thousands of eye injuries to our troops serving on the battlefields in Iraq and Afghanistan. This path-breaking initiative will help provide the best recovery possible for all of our troops,” he said. “I'm very proud that the extraordinary scientific and medical talent in our community can help our injured troops regain their vision.”
The Eye Trauma and Visual Restoration program features three subprograms focusing on the following goals:
• functional imaging - to develop innovative methods to visualize retinal and optic nerve structure and to determine whether cells in these tissues are functioning properly
• molecular therapeutics - to restore a degree of sight in individuals suffering loss of photoreceptors using a novel gene therapy approach
• biomaterials - to develop materials to promote wound healing and the attachment of devices to the retina and the visual centers of the brain, enabling the functional placement of visual prosthetics or drug delivery systems.
Within this structure, five individual projects will be supported by the fiscal year 2010 appropriation, involving eight different faculty investigators from the partner institutions. The team includes Mark Humayun, Shuliang Jiao, James Weiland and Alan Horsager from the Keck School and USC Viterbi; Yu-Chong Tai from Caltech; and Douglas McCreery, Victor Pikov and Martin Han from the Huntington Medical Research Institute.
The program also will fund research internships for students in Pasadena City College’s biotechnology program, enabling them to apprentice in the labs of program investigators.
Pamela Eversole-Cire directs the biotechnology program at Pasadena City College. She joined the faculty following a postdoctoral fellowship at Caltech in the field of retinal degenerative disease. The Pasadena City College biotechnology program enrolls a diverse student body and is successful in placing graduates in local jobs within academics and industry.
Grant funding is expected to be finalized this fall.
TAGS: innovation, medicine, research
Latest Health stories
- Federal Agency Features Professor’s Research on Depression February 8, 2012 1:42 PM
- Study Produces New Findings on Autism and GI Dysfunction February 7, 2012 3:11 PM
- Ostrow School Celebrates Give Kids a Smile Day February 7, 2012 8:13 AM
-
For Journalists »
-
USC in the News
for 2/8/2012 »-
The Chronicle of Higher Education mentioned USC’s $6 billion fundraising campaign. The story noted that USC had already raised $1 billion in a “quiet phase,” including the $200 million naming gift from USC Trustee and alumnus David Dornsife and wife Dana Dornsife to the USC Dornsife College.
The Guardian (U.K.) highlighted two major gifts to USC in a list of the 10 biggest philanthropic benefactors in America. The list included the $200 million naming gift from USC Trustee and alumnus David Dornsife and wife Dana Dornsife to the USC Dornsife College, and the $110 million gift from USC Trustee and USC Viterbi School alumnus John Mork and wife Julie to create the USC Mork Family Scholars Program.
The New York Times featured the USC U.S.-China Institute documentary “Assignment: China — The Week that Changed the World.” The documentary, part of a series, examines media coverage of the 1972 Nixon trip that reshaped U.S.-China relations after a quarter century of isolation and hostility. “People look back now and take it for granted that the outcome was preordained,” said the institute’s Mike Chinoy, who produced the documentary. Voice of America also featured the story.
Los Angeles Times featured the Oscar Senti-meter, a tool developed by the USC Annenberg School, Los Angeles Times and IBM that analyzes thousands of tweets about the Academy Awards nominees. The story noted that Mexican actor Demian Bechir received an enormous boost on Twitter the day of the nominations, with a total of 6,893 tweets mentioning him, a 47-fold increase from the day before. The story noted the tool uses language-recognition technology developed in collaboration with USC Viterbi School’s Signal Analysis and Interpretation Lab.
The Times of India (India) featured a three-day medical emergency training workshop organized in association with USC. At the workshop, held at GCS Medical College in India, 50 doctors and more than 100 paramedics learned how to improve emergency support systems. William Mallon of the Keck School of USC said that discussion topics included the use of portable ultrasonic devices to scan patients. “The ultrasound applications help physicians make accurate and timely decisions,” he noted. Daily News & Analysis (India) also featured the workshop.
-
-
Campus News
- Capital Connections
- USC faculty, staff and alumni in Washington, D.C., and Sacramento
- In Print
- New and recent books written or edited by USC faculty and staff
- Family Matters
- Achievements and awards
- Obituaries