Grant: Team Grant: Vision, Hearing and Communication Disorders

Glaucoma is a leading cause of blindness worldwide. At present, there is no cure for glaucoma and current therapies are often inadequate. Loss of vision in glaucoma results from the irreversible death of retinal ganglion cells, the neurons that send visual information from the retina to the brain. The current proposal will focus on novel observations made by our team to provide an in-depth characterization of key pathways leading to retinal ganglion cell death and will use this knowledge to develop novel therapeutics for glaucoma. We have brought together a multidisciplinary team of experts in a wide range of fields, from molecular biology to execution of clinical trials. It is anticipated that this research program will lead to groundbreaking discoveries, will provide an outstanding training environment, and will serve as a knowledge-translation springboard to engage our clinical, institutional and industrial partners towards rapid clinical development.