NEI grants help bolster glaucoma research efforts Two Vanderbilt Eye Institute (VEI) researchers were recently awarded National Eye Institute (NEI) Audacious Goals Initiative (AGI) for Regenerative Medicine grants for $6.8 million over five years to develop new treatments for optic neuropathies and glaucoma, the leading cause of irreversible blindness. The NEI program, part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), seeks to support the development of new disease models to allow researchers to test novel regenerative therapies, including gene-and cell-based therapies, and help transition them into the clinic. Tonia Rex, PhD Tonia Rex, PhD, associate professor of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences, is the principal investigator for the project, “Retinal Ganglion Cell Replacement in Clinically Relevant Models of Optic Neuropathy.” Rex’s team is developing optic cup organoids, which are lab-grown tissues with the potential to regrow retinal ganglion cells. “The purpose of my project is to develop two models of optic neuropathy — glaucoma and trauma — in a human relevant species and to optimize delivery, integration and survival of transplanted retinal ganglion cells,” explained Rex. The team hopes the model will yield a better understanding of how transplant-type therapies may help preserve and restore vision loss due to optic nerve damage. […]

Five research teams will develop new models for eye disease research NEI Audacious Goals Initiative funds projects to accelerate the development of regenerative treatments for blindness The National Eye Institute (NEI), part of the National Institutes of Health, has awarded grants to five multi-disciplinary teams to develop new disease models for a range of eye conditions. The program, which will award $30 million over 5 years, is part of the NEI Audacious Goals Initiative (AGI) for Regenerative Medicine. The AGI seeks to catalyze new treatments for blinding conditions like glaucoma, age-related macular degeneration, retinitis pigmentosa, and other degenerative eye diseases. New models will enable researchers to test novel regenerative therapies, including gene- and cell-based therapies, and help transition them to the clinic. “Models that recapitulate human disease are essential to predicting the success of new therapies in humans. These audacious projects will be pivotal in our efforts to translate the latest science advances into new treatments for vision loss and blindness,” said NEI Director Paul A. Sieving, M.D., Ph.D. Scientists use disease models throughout the process of developing new treatments. From cell or animal models of eye diseases, researchers can learn the root cause of disease, study the changes that […]

Calkins lands innovation award from Research to Prevent Blindness by Jessica Pasley Jun. 28, 2018, 9:16 AM David Calkins, PhD, vice chair and director of Research at the Vanderbilt Eye Institute, has been granted one of the preeminent awards in vision research — the Research to Prevent Blindness (RPB) Stein Innovation Award. The award, $300,000 over the next two years, provides flexible funding to scientists engaged in research with the goal of understanding the visual system and the diseases that compromise its function. Calkins, the Denis O’Day Professor of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences and director of the Vanderbilt Vision Research Center, will use the grant to fund work focused on energy depletion in the optic nerve in glaucoma and how interactions between support cells called astrocyte glia and axonal fibers in the nerve may compensate for this depletion to prolong visual signaling in the brain. “This award is extremely competitive,” said Calkins. “It is a rare award, one that honors the innovative nature of the winner’s research into blinding eye disease.” Calkins said the project in part reflects the neuroscience dissertation of his senior graduate student, PhD candidate Melissa Cooper. Calkins is one of 11 researchers who have received the […]

Study explores accuracy of residency applications The misrepresentation of scholarly work among residency applicants has been documented for decades, said Louise Mawn, MD, professor of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences at Vanderbilt University Medical Center. Louise Mawn, MD Every year residency programs grapple with unverifiable publications and other citings included on applications. Despite the unethical practice, there has been no resolution, until the release of the study “Rate of Unverifiable Publications Among Ophthalmology Residency Applicants Invited to Interview” in JAMA Ophthalmology. “The really nice part of this investigation and what makes our publication unique is that we identified a challenge and potential ways of addressing the issue in the future,” said Mawn, principal investigator of the study. “This was a significant finding that we knew was important to communicate to a wider body. “Although others have identified unverifiable publications as a problem, no one has offered a solution. We are the first to land on a solution, and a really implementable one.” Armed with knowledge that many prospective residents submit applications with unverifiable publications, Mawn and colleagues set out to determine the rate of this occurrence among the pool of applicants at the Vanderbilt Eye Institute. Heather Tamez, MD, current chief […]

Glaucoma — the leading cause of vision loss worldwide — includes a heterogeneous group of disorders. Primary open-angle glaucoma (POAG) and exfoliation glaucoma (XFG) are linked to decreased outflow of aqueous humor, which affects intraocular pressure. A multi-institutional team of investigators including Rachel Kuchtey, MD, PhD, and John Kuchtey, PhD, at Vanderbilt, explored molecular changes in aqueous humor content in glaucoma. The investigators profiled the expression of microRNAs (miRNAs), which regulate gene expression, in aqueous humor samples from patients with POAG, XFG and cataracts (non-glaucoma controls). They found three miRNAs and five miRNAs with significantly different expression in POAG and XFG, respectively, compared to controls. One miRNA differed between POAG and XFG. Pathway analysis revealed that the differentially expressed miRNAs were involved in potential glaucoma pathways, including focal adhesion, tight junctions and TGF-beta signaling. The findings, reported in the April 1 issue of Human Molecular Genetics, highlight miRNAs that are differentially expressed in glaucoma and that could be candidate biomarkers or targets for therapy. This research was supported by The Glaucoma Foundation, the Glaucoma Research Foundation, the BrightFocus Foundation and the National Institutes of Health (grants EY023242, EY027746, EY020894, EY023287).     Original Post

A team of researchers, led by David Calkins, PhD, vice chair and director of Research at the Vanderbilt Eye Institute, has made a breakthrough discovery in the field of glaucoma showing new hopes for treatments to preserve vision. In addition, Calkins is encouraged that the findings released in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) will have treatment ramifications to combat age-related neurodegenerative disorders like Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s diseases. The paper, “Axogenic Mechanism Enhances Retinal Ganglion Cell Excitability During Early Progression in Glaucoma,” unmasked a revolutionary conclusion — in the past it was believed that as retinal activity is lost, the connection between the retina and the brain should be gone, but the opposite is true. Calkins deemed the information one of the most significant discoveries since his team showed in 2010 that the first sign of injury in glaucoma occurs in the brain, and was similar to other age-related, central nervous system diseases. “What we have demonstrated in our most recent study is that the brain fights back,” said Calkins, Denis O’Day Professor of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences and director of the Vanderbilt Vision Research Center. “And we identified the mechanism for what causes this compensatory response. […]

Announcing Kenneth C. Catania as the Keynote Speaker at VSS 2018 VSS is pleased to welcome Kenneth C. Catania as the VSS 2018 Keynote Speaker. Dr. Catania is the Stevenson Professor of Biological Sciences at Vanderbilt University. He is considered an expert in exotic animal behaviors, focusing on how specialized species reveal general principles about the organization of sensory systems. Dr. Catania was named a MacArthur Fellow in 2006 and a Guggenheim Fellow in 2014. In 2013, he received the Pradel Research Award in Neurosciences from the National Academy of Sciences. In his talk entitled “More than meets the eye: the extraordinary brains and behaviors of specialized predators,” Dr. Catania will describe the neurobiology and behavior of unusual species, including star-nosed moles, tentacled snakes, and electric eels. He will discuss predator-prey interactions, in particular how these interactions have resulted in the evolution of high-acuity senses and dramatic attack and escape behaviors. Dr. Catania’s talk will be held on Saturday, May 19th at 7:15 pm in Talk Room 1-2. To learn more about Kenneth C. Catania and his groundbreaking work, please visit his home page.

Tonia Rex, Ph.D., is working to develop new tests to detect audio and visual dysfunction in traumatic brain injury (TBI) patients. (photo by Anne Rayner) Vanderbilt researcher Tonia Rex, Ph.D., is accustomed to performing studies in her lab with a goal of translating the findings into better diagnoses and treatment tools for the visually impaired. Her most recent grant will provide a new experience in her research career — her first-ever clinical study. “Quantitative Evaluation of Visual and Auditory Dysfunction and Multi-Sensory Integration in Complex TBI Patients” is a three-year, $2 million Department of Defense-funded grant to develop objective tests to detect sensory dysfunction in traumatic brain injury (TBI) patients. In turn, the outcome measures will be used to create diagnostic tools for future clinical trials to test potential therapies. Rex’s research focuses on discoveries that can lead to treatments for vision loss due to trauma. Her most recent project involves a multi-disciplinary team that will incorporate both civilian and military participants. “With the increased incidence of TBI in the military and with more recognition of these kinds of injuries in sports, more people are talking about TBI,” said Rex, associate professor of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences at Vanderbilt University […]

The Vanderbilt Eye Institute (VEI) recently hosted the Southeastern Vision Conference to celebrate and share excellence in vision science. The two-day seminar held at the Vanderbilt University Marriott brought together three vision research groups from Vanderbilt University Medical Center (VUMC), the University of Alabama at Birmingham and Emory University to foster collaborations among the groups. The recent Southeastern Vision Conference brought together research groups from across the region to share excellence in vision science and discuss collaboration. (photo by Steve Green) “We all share a common focus on mechanisms of vision and new treatments for diseases that affect vision,” said David Calkins, Ph.D., Denis M. O’Day Professor of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences at Vanderbilt. “Collectively, research at these three institutions covers all aspects of vision and diseases of the visual system, forming a hub for excellence in the Southeast. “Yet, despite our proximity and commonalities, we never gathered everyone to discuss new and innovative research for the purpose of accelerating the science through collaboration, communication and sharing of scientific resources,” said Calkins, vice chair and director for Research at VEI and director of the Vanderbilt Vision Research Center. Collaborators from Morehouse School of Medicine, Alabama Eye Bank, Hamilton Eye Institute […]

     Our very own, Kacie Dougherty has been accepted into the Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Course “Vision – A Platform for Linking Circuits, Behavior, and Perception”.  Kacie is a Graduate Student here at Vanderbilt University with several publications and honor in her name.  As a member of the Maier Lab, she has been working to increase our scientific understanding of the neural mechanisms that give rise to visual perception in order to prevent and treat visual deficits, disorders and disease. The Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory was founded in 1890 and is a preeminent international research institution, achieving breakthroughs in molecular biology and genetics and enhancing scientific knowledge worldwide.  Acceptance into this course is a milestone for Kacie and speaks highly of her work in visual research. We would like to take a moment to congratulate Kacie on her acceptance into the course and wish her the best this summer!

Vanderbilt University School of Medicine moves to eighth in NIH research funding and Vanderbilt Eye Institute ranks 9th. by John Howser | Thursday, Apr. 13, 2017, 11:37 AM Vanderbilt University School of Medicine (VUSM) now ranks No. 8 in the nation among U.S. medical schools in total grant support provided through the National Institutes of Health (NIH). The new ranking raises VUSM’s standing two spots from the No. 10 position it held last year. Receiving $340,049,796 in total NIH grant support during calendar year 2016, VUSM finished the year with an additional $48,854,269 in funding over its 2015 total. Support from the NIH for research continues to be increasingly competitive among the nation’s leading academic medical centers and remains a key indicator of an institution’s overall strength in biomedical research. NIH funding provides crucial support for Vanderbilt’s researchers to advance the understanding of the underlying causes of and to develop new treatments for a diverse array of adult and childhood diseases and disorders that cost the U.S. economy more than $3 trillion each year. Last year was historic in terms of VUSM’s receipt of competitively funded research support, including the largest single grant in Vanderbilt history — a $71.6 million, […]

In MemoryVivien Alice Casagrande 1942 – 2017

Grant strengthens Brantley’s vision research efforts Milam Brantley Jr., M.D., Ph.D., associate professor of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences and Molecular Physiology and Biophysics, recently received a $500,000 grant from the Edward N. and Della L. Thome Memorial Foundation Awards Program in Macular Degeneration Research to further his work on age-related macular degeneration (AMD). Milam Brantley Jr., M.D., Ph.D. The award will be dispersed over a two-year period to support his project “Understanding the Mechanism of Bile Acids’ Influence on AMD Pathophysiology.” Brantley’s lab, in conjunction with a team at Emory University, has used metabolomics, a technique that can simultaneously measure thousands of molecules in a person’s blood, to study AMD and other leading causes of blindness. His initial metabolomic investigation of patients from the Vanderbilt Eye Institute (VEI) revealed that patients with AMD had altered blood levels of bile acids compared to those without AMD. “Having identified these alterations of bile acid levels in patients with AMD, we now want to understand how and why these molecules differ in the disease,” said Brantley. “We want to identify the molecular pathway differences to help us better understand the underlying pathophysiology of the disease.” Brantley will collaborate with the Mass Spectrometry Core […]

Friday November 18th 1220 MRB III Friday November 18th 1:30 pm    Arrivals – coffee and conversations in the lobby 2:00 pm    Welcome: Ian Macara, Ph.D.,   Professor and Chair of the Department of Cell and Developmental Biology, Louise McGavock Chair, Vanderbilt University School of Medicine. 2:05 pm    “Molecular Mechanisms of Visual Cortical Plasticity” Xiangmin Xu, Ph.D., Associate Professor, Department of Anatomy and Neurobiology, School of Medicine, University of California, Irvine. 2:35 pm    perspective: Randolph Blake, Ph.D., Centennial Professor of Psychology, Professor of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences, Vice Chair of Psychology, Vanderbilt University. 2:40 pm    “The Evolution of the Visual Pulvinar”, Jon Kaas, Ph.D., Gertrude Conaway Vanderbilt Distinguished Professor, Department of Psychology, Professor of Cell and Developmental Biology 
Professor of Radiology and Radiological Sciences, Vanderbilt University. 3:10 pm    perspective: Mark Wallace, Ph.D. Dean of the Graduate School, Louise McGavock Chair, Professor of Hearing and Speech Sciences, Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences and Psychology, Vanderbilt University School of Medicine. 3:15 pm    presentation: Rene Marois, Ph.D.  Professor and Chair of Psychology, Associate Professor of Radiology and Radiological Sciences, Vanderbilt University. 3:25 pm    coffee and stretch 3:40 pm    perspective: Anita Disney, Ph.D. Assistant Professor of Psychology, Vanderbilt University School of Medicine. 3:45 […]

Six Teams Seek to Identify Biological Factors That Influence Neural Regeneration The National Institutes of Health will fund six projects to identify biological factors that affect neural regeneration in the retina. The projects are part of the National Eye Institute (NEI) Audacious Goals Initiative (AGI), a targeted effort to restore vision by regenerating neurons and their connections in the eye and visual system. These projects will receive a total of $12.4 million over three years, pending availability of funds. “Understanding factors that mediate the regeneration of neurons and the growth of axons is crucial for the development of breakthrough therapies for blinding diseases. What we learn through these projects will have a health impact beyond vision,” said Paul A. Sieving, M.D., Ph.D., director of NEI, part of NIH. Most irreversible blindness results from the loss of neurons in the retina, which is the light-sensitive tissue in the back of the eye. Many common eye diseases, including age-related macular degeneration, glaucoma and diabetic retinopathy, put these cells at risk. Once these neurons are gone, humans have little if any capacity to replace them. One of the six teams is of Dr. Levine at Vanderbilt Vision Research Center. Novel activators of regeneration […]

Vision Research Seminar Series 4:10 PM, Wednesday, September 28th, 2016 1220 Medical Research Building III Dennis Levi, Ph.D. Professor of Optometry & Vision Science University of California, Berkeley Title: Recovering Stereovision Abstract: Stereopsis is the impression of three-dimensionality—of objects “popping out in depth”—that most humans get when they view real-world objects with both eyes, based on binocular disparity—the differences between the two retinal images of the same world. However, a substantial proportion of the population is stereoblind or stereo deficient due to strabismus and/or amblyopia. This impairment may have a substantial impact on visuomotor tasks, difficulties in playing sports in children and locomoting safely in older adults. Impaired stereopsis may also limit career options. This talk will review several promising new approaches to recovering stereopsis through perceptual learning and videogame play.

The American Academy of Arts and Sciences today announced that Centennial Professor of Psychology Gordon D. Logan has been elected as one of its new members, along with 212 other individuals including some of the world’s most accomplished scholars, scientists, writers and artists, as well as civic, business and philanthropic leaders. Logan has made profound theoretical and empirical contributions to the field of psychology through his studies of attention and automaticity, the development of skill acquisition, and the nature of executive control. He pioneered the “stop-signal paradigm” that forces subjects to inhibit an ongoing action in response to a stop signal, which has allowed psychologists to address the issue of how people inhibit their behaviors and has been applied successfully to the study of performance in wide varieties of clinical populations who show deficits in inhibitory control. His “instance theory of automatization” also has been extremely influential because it accounts for how people “automate” repetitive cognitive tasks. The theory holds that automatic processing develops because the observer stores separate representations or “instances” of each exposure to a task, and that consistent practice increases the speed with which a person can retrieve these instances. In recent work, Logan has shown that […]

The National Academy of Sciences has announced that Geoffrey Woodman, associate professor of psychology at Vanderbilt University, will receive a 2016 Troland Research Award. The academy gives two of these $75,000 research awards annually to     recognize unusual achievement by young investigators and to further empirical research within the broad spectrum of experimental psychology. Woodman has been working to unite techniques used to study the brain activity in humans with those used in animals, combining intracranial recordings in monkeys with scalp recordings. Such work is helping to bridge the gap between research in humans and primates. Woodman has also made discoveries at the forefront of research on learning and memory. Recently he discovered that a mild electrical stimulation applied to the medial frontal cortex resulted in improved learning and memory for some five hours. These findings also have implications for people with brain disorders. Woodman and his team, for instance, have performed similar research on people with schizophrenia and found that the technique could restore error monitoring—the short but important pause healthy people make after making a mistake. The Troland Research Award was established by a trust created in 1931 by the bequest of Harvard psychologist Leonard T. Troland. Woodman […]

Save the Date Monday, November 9, 2015 12-9 pm Nashville Marriott at Vanderbilt University This event will celebrate our rich tradition of excellence and rapid growth in vision science across Vanderbilt schools, institutes, and campuses. The schedule will include platform updates from our faculty, posters from our many talented trainees, and lunch, cocktails and dinner.  We are pleased to announce that our platform speaker will be Professor David Williams, PhD, Dean for Science and Director of the Center for Visual Sciences at the University of Rochester. Professor Williams is a member of the National Academy of Sciences and the most recent winner of the $500,000 Beckman-Argyros Award in Vision Research. Sponsored by the Vanderbilt Eye Institute For further information and registration contact:  Vanessa Alderson, Project Assistant Email:  vanessa.alderson@vanderbilt.edu

Isabel Gauthier, David K. Wilson Professor of Psychology and professor of radiology and radiological sciences at Vanderbilt, has been selected as the 2015 Professor of the Year by the Southeastern Conference. Her work at Vanderbilt has been exemplary, and she has distinguished herself as one of the most sought-after professors for Vanderbilt students of all levels.“Dr. Isabel Gauthier is a teacher, researcher and mentor who embodies the most desirable qualities we seek in the professoriate,” said Chancellor Nicholas S. Zeppos. “She has engaged in high-quality, high-impact research and attained an international reputation for her expertise in object recognition. Her work at Vanderbilt has been exemplary, and she has distinguished herself as one of the most sought-after professors for Vanderbilt students of all levels. I am thrilled she has been named the 2015 SEC Professor of the Year.” Zeppos is the current chair of the SEC’s presidents and chancellors. Each year, the SEC recognizes one faculty member from each of its 14 member universities who has excelled in teaching, research and scholarship with the Faculty Achievement Award. Each award winner receives a $5,000 honorarium from the SEC. To be eligible for the award, a professor must be a teacher or scholar […]

Isabel Gauthier was a recipient of the 2014 Chancellor’s Research Award in recognition of her excellence in research as exemplified by her recent PNAS paper on expertise and object selectivity in the fusiform face area.

Jon Kaas is the winner of the 2014 George A. Miller Prize in Cognitive Neuroscience awarded by the Cognitive Neuroscience Society.  The prize is awarded annually to a neuroscientist who has conducted cutting-edge research that has revolutionized the field.

The device, the Argus II Retinal Prosthesis System, will be available to patients being treated for late-stage RP, an inherited retinal degenerative disease. Although still a few months away, ophthalmologists at the Vanderbilt Eye Institute are eagerly anticipating the arrival of the innovative technology for patients who are functionally blind. “We are excited to be chosen as one of the centers nationwide to provide this remarkable innovation to our patients,” said Paul Sternberg Jr., M.D., George W. Hale Professor and chair of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences and director of the Vanderbilt Eye Institute. “It is an acknowledgement that VEI is one of the premier eye institutes in the country. “To date, there has been no proven, effective treatment in preventing this disease or slowing it down. For patients who are blind, the ability to regain some vision, functionality and independence is astonishing.” Retinitis pigmentosa is a retinal degenerative disease characterized by progressive peripheral vision loss and night vision difficulties. It is caused by abnormalities of the rods and cones (receptors of vision) that can lead to peripheral and central vision loss. An estimated 100,000 people are living with RP in the U.S. Anita Agarwal, M.D., associate professor of Ophthalmology, is […]

Tonia Rex, Ph.D., assistant professor of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences at the Vanderbilt Eye Institute, was recently named one of 10 winners of the National Institutes of Health competition for ideas on the future of vision research.   Congratulations Tonia!! Full Story http://news.vanderbilt.edu/2013/02/nih-lauds-rexs-ideas-for-future-of-vision-research/ February 14, 2013

On December 19th, 2012 David Calkins received the Research to Prevent Blindness Senior Scientific Investigator Award.  Many congratulations to David! December 20, 2012

Division 3 of APA recently announced young investigator awards given for outstanding articles by young investigators in the Journal of Experimental Psychology (JEP) journals. Daryl Fougnie, former graduate student in René Marois’s lab, was one of the two winners of the award for JEP: Learning, Memory, and Cognition for an article he published with Rene. Fougnie, D., & Marois, R. (2011). What limits working memory capacity? Evidence for modality-specific sources to the simultaneous storage of visual and auditory arrays. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 37, 1329-1341. Congratulations to both Daryl and Rene! December 6, 2012

Why do our brains make more mistakes when we act quickly? A new study demonstrates how the brain follows Ben Franklin’s famous dictum, “Take time for all things: great haste makes great waste.” The research – conducted by Research Assistant Professor Richard Heitz and Jeffrey Schall, Ingram Professor of Neuroscience, at Vanderbilt University – has found that the brain actually switches into a special mode when pushed to make rapid decisions. The study was published Nov. 7 in the journal Neuron. “This is a question that is very basic to our experience as human beings, and something that we encounter on a daily basis,” Heitz, who designed and carried out the study, said. “If we can understand how our brain changes when we are pushed to respond faster, we have gone a long way toward understanding the decision-making process in general.” Full Story NBCNews.com November 12, 2012