e-Gleams: Is there a Safe Stem-Cell Treatment for Glaucoma?

March 2023 Is There a Safe Stem-cell Treatment for Glaucoma in 2023? This is one of the most pressing and most common questions being asked by patients, especially by patients who have lost significant vision to glaucoma. The loss of vision in glaucoma is associated with the degeneration of retinal ganglion cells (called "RGCs"), and the premise—and promise—of replacing RGCs with stem cells to restore vision is compelling.   Are we making progress towards stem cell treatments?   We've made a lot of progress in the laboratory towards cell therapy for glaucoma. Our lab and others' labs have largely figured out how to turn human stem cells into human RGCs in the lab dish, and we can characterize their function and anatomy with ultrafine molecular detail. Furthermore, human RGC transplants into preclinical model animals with glaucoma or related eye diseases similar to human disease are making more and more progress, showing more promise—although there is still more science to solve—how do we get enough cells transplanted into the retina to improve vision meaningfully? How do we maximize the donor cells' integration into retinal circuitry? How much immunosuppression is needed in the short or longer term? Continue Reading... From the Blog: The 2023 Shaffer Grants for Innovative Glaucoma Research This week, Glaucoma Research Foundation announced the eight researchers receiving their 2023 Shaffer Research Grants. These one-year grants help to initiate creative research ideas and the scientific results often lead to additional funding. Each Shaffer Grant awards $50,000 to enable a promising scientist to advance their career in glaucoma research and do the experiments to support their hypotheses. To date, close to 300 grants have been awarded thanks to generous philanthropic support. Continue Reading... 2023 Shaffer Research Prize At the Glaucoma 360 Annual Gala in February, GRF president and CEO Thomas M. Brunner awarded the 2023 Shaffer Prize for Innovative Glaucoma Research to both Lev Prasov, MD, PhD from the Kellogg Eye Institute, University of Michigan, and Rachel Wang Kuchtey, MD, PhD of Vanderbilt University. The Shaffer Prize for Innovative Glaucoma Research recognizes grant recipients whose projects best exemplify the pursuit of breakthrough ideas to better understand and cure glaucoma.  Continue Reading... March 30 is Doctors' Day. A date when we pause to honor the incredible people who care for us and continue to give us hope. To celebrate the ones who heal and comfort us, consider making a meaningful donation in honor of your healthcare hero. A gift to Glaucoma Research Foundation will ensure our clinicians and researchers can continue to develop new treatments and vision saving discoveries for you. DONATE NOW Manage your preferences | Opt Out using TrueRemove™ Got this as a forward? Sign up to receive our future emails. View this email online. 251 Post St Ste 600 | San Francisco, CA 94108 US This email was sent to bestsmmservice.huha@blogger.com. To continue receiving our emails, add us to your address book.