vision science

“Restoring conventional outflow function: the next generation of glaucoma therapeutics”

Presented by W. Daniel Stamer, PhD from Duke University, Department of Ophthalmology and Albert Eye Research Institute

Program Agenda

3:00pm – Refreshments

3:30pm – Presentation

About Dr. Stamer’s Research

My laboratory studies the disease of glaucoma, the second leading cause of blindness in the United States, affecting nearly 3 million people (70 million Worldwide). The primary risk factor for developing glaucoma is ocular hypertension (high intraocular pressure, IOP). IOP is a function of aqueous humor moving into and out of the eye.  Elevated IOP in glaucoma is a result of disease in the primary efflux route, the conventional outflow pathway, affecting proper drainage of aqueous humor.

Controlling IOP in glaucoma patients, whether or not they have ocular hypertension, is important because large clinical trials involving tens of thousands of patients repeatedly demonstrate that significant, sustained IOP reduction slows or halts vision loss. Unfortunately, current daily medical treatments do not target the diseased conventional pathway and do not lower IOP sufficiently in most people with glaucoma. Therefore, finding new, more effective ways to medically control IOP by targeting the conventional pathway is a central goal the Stamer Laboratory.

Using molecular, cellular and organ-based model systems, my laboratory seeks to identify and validate novel drug targets in the human conventional outflow pathway such that novel treatment of ocular hypertension and glaucoma can be developed.

Crosstalk of transforming growth factor beta-2 and toll-like receptor 4 in the trabecular meshwork

Join us in welcoming, Colleen McDowell, PhD, Assistant Professor at North Texas Eye Research Institute with her presentation (title above). Frontiers in Vision Research is a collective exploration into the ever-changing landscape of sight saving discovery with colleagues and peers from across the globe.

About Dr. McDowell’s Research

One of the major risk factors for the development of glaucoma is an increased pressure inside the eye. An increase of pressure occurs in the eye when fluid is not drained properly through the drainage structures in the front of the eye. Research in my laboratory aims to understand what regulates the arrangement and construction of the drainage structures and how changes in this makeup prevent proper drainage in the eye. In addition, the buildup of pressure in the eye can damage the visual sensing structures in the back of the eye, leading to blindness. My laboratory also studies specific subtypes of cells in the visual sensing structures of the eye that are more or less susceptible to glaucoma damage. These experiments will help identify pathways of destruction that will serve as new targets for the development of effective glaucoma treatments, and may also lead to the discovery of more sensitive ways to diagnose glaucoma and follow glaucoma progression.

We encourage you to join us before the program for APPETIZERS, refreshments and networkinG!