By AScribe Newswire
SANTA BARBARA, Calif., Nov. 15 - An international collaboration between UC Santa Barbara, the Keck School of Medicine of the University of Southern California (USC), and several other research institutions, is bringing together leaders in the fields of stem cell biology, basic science, and ophthalmology to develop a treatment for blindness caused by age-related macular degeneration.
The California Project to Cure Blindness (CPCB) was formed with a $16 million California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM) "disease team" grant awarded in late 2009 to fund development of a stem cell-based treatment for age-related macular degeneration. As part of the CIRM Disease Team partnership program, an additional $4.1 million from Britain's Medical Research Council funds collaborative work at University College of London.
"UCSB scientists in the Center for Stem Cell Biology and Engineering and the Center for the Study of Macular Degeneration are excited to provide the basic research that will allow translation of stem cell research to the clinic," said Dennis Clegg, professor in UCSB's Department of Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology, and co-director of the UCSB Center for Stem Cell Biology and Engineering. Both centers are part of UCSB's Neuroscience Research Institute. Grant funds totaling $2.5 million for this work were assigned to UCSB through USC.
The overall grant was awarded to principal investigator Mark Humayun, professor of ophthalmology, cell and neurobiology and biomedical engineering at the Keck School, and David R. Hinton, professor of pathology and ophthalmology at the Keck School. Co-investigator is Martin Pera, director of the Eli and Edythe Broad CIRM Center for Regenerative Medicine and Stem Cell Research at USC.
"With this collaboration, we hope to accelerate research on a stem cell-based therapy for age-related macular degeneration," said Humayun. "Age-related macular degeneration is the leading cause of irreversible vision loss, affecting one in three people age 75 or older. The CIRM grant enables us to work with numerous researchers and experts who are dedicated to finding the cure to this devastating medical condition."
The cause of blindness in age-related macular degeneration is the death of retinal pigment epithelial cells, which provide critical support of photoreceptor function and health. The project objective is to replace damaged retinal epithelium with healthy tissue derived from human embryonic stem cells to prevent loss of vision.
Stem cell therapy offers the possibility of a wider range of options for age-related macular degeneration patients, said Keck School Dean Carmen A. Puliafito. "While exciting new pharmaceuticals to treat age-related macular degeneration are now available, these are effective only in a select group of patients, and can be used only during a narrow time window," said Puliafito, an ophthalmologist whose academic focus is macular degeneration. "In contrast, stem cell therapy promises to be broadly applicable. The potential is tremendous."
CIRM President Alan Trounson noted that the disease team approach exemplified by the California Project to Cure Blindness could transform the direction of future research.
"Scientists have talked for years about the need to find ways to speed the pace of discovery," said Trounson. "CIRM, through the Disease Team Award Program, has encouraged applicants to form teams composed of the best researchers from around the world. The partnership between the California Project to Cure Blindness and Britain's Medical Research Council is a great example of CIRM's vision of a new standard for funding translational research."
Monday, November 15, 2010
Thursday, November 4, 2010
Miracle Eye Implant Restores sight to Blind
by Victoria Fletcher
A MAN who was totally blind can now read letters of the alphabet and the time on a clock face with a microchip implanted in his eye, it was revealed yesterday.
Experts said hopes of such a leap forward had previously existed “only in the realm of science fiction”.
But now researchers have shown it is possible to restore vision lost to disease with an electronic eye.
The study, by a team in Germany, will offer hope to the 25,000 Britons who are told they will go blind due to an inherited condition known as retinitis pigmentosa.
But it could also eventually treat the 300,000 who have macular degeneration which also leads to blindness.
The microchip, smaller than the tip of a pen and containing 1,500 tiny light sensors, fits into a natural space beneath the retina.
When an image comes through the lens of the eye it hits the sensors which send an electrical pulse to nerve cells at the back of the eye. These transmit the message to the brain.
Miikka can now tell an apple from a banana and right Professor Robert Maclaren
The device is powered by a thin cable that runs from the eye, out of the side of the skull and is attached to a battery behind the ear.
The new study reveals that three patients have been able to see grainy images of objects and recognise shapes after having the device fitted.
Finn Miikka Terho, 46, was able to walk around a room with ease, read his own name and even tell researchers they had spelt it wrongly.
He could recognise shades of grey, read the time from a clock and pick up an apple and a banana from the table in front of him.
Before the implant he was totally blind apart from being able to detect changes between light and dark.
The pilot study, published in the Proceedings of the Royal Society B Journal, means the technology behind the device works, is safe and is ready to be tested on a larger number of patients in a proper clinical trial.
Although it does not mean patients will ever be able to see normally, it does raise the prospect that the blind will be helped to see enough to regain some independence.
Prof Robert Maclaren, Professor of Ophthalmology at Oxford University, will conduct the next trial.
He said: “This is a big breakthrough, no two ways about it. To take someone who is blind and help them see again is pretty incredible.”
He added: “The successful testing of this electronic implant in Germany is without doubt a truly significant advance.
“One previously blind patient was able to read his own name with the implant switched on. Until now, this concept would have been considered only in the realms of science fiction.”
In recent years, scientists have helped to restore vision using a small camera mounted on spectacles.
This allowed a rough interpretation of an image beamed through a wire into the brain.
But the new device, developed by German scientist Prof Eberhart Zrenner, shows that the damaged light receptor cells in the eye can simply be replaced by a microchip.
The rest of the image is obtained by the natural eye. Prof Zrenner has now set up the technology firm Retinal Implant AG to develop the device.
Around one in 3,000 Britons have retinitis pigmentosa, which destroys light cells in the eye.The condition, triggered by a range of genes, is incurable and untreatable.
More than 10 times as many people have macular degeneration.
It usually affects older adults and leads to a loss of central vision, making it difficult or impossible to read or recognise faces although enough some peripheral vision remains.
Prof Maclaren said he was thrilled he could now tell patients with retinitis pigmentosa that there was hope ahead after years of having to tell them they would be left completely blind. And he said that although the device did not offer an amazing quality of vision, it would be significant for people who had previously been unable to see anything.
David Head, chief executive of the British Retinitis Pigmentosa Society, welcomed the news, calling it “a very significant advance”. But he said he wanted patients to realise that even this breakthrough would not restore their vision.
He added: “The technology is exciting and hopefully this will advance in the next few years but we have to temper it with reality.”
Up to 12 patients are expected to take part in the British study, due to start early next year at King’s College Hospital, London, and the Oxford Eye Hospital.It is hoped that when the device can be left in place for years instead of months, the brain may learn to interpret the grey and white images into far more accurate pictures of what the eye is really seeing.
A MAN who was totally blind can now read letters of the alphabet and the time on a clock face with a microchip implanted in his eye, it was revealed yesterday.
Experts said hopes of such a leap forward had previously existed “only in the realm of science fiction”.
But now researchers have shown it is possible to restore vision lost to disease with an electronic eye.
The study, by a team in Germany, will offer hope to the 25,000 Britons who are told they will go blind due to an inherited condition known as retinitis pigmentosa.
But it could also eventually treat the 300,000 who have macular degeneration which also leads to blindness.
The microchip, smaller than the tip of a pen and containing 1,500 tiny light sensors, fits into a natural space beneath the retina.
When an image comes through the lens of the eye it hits the sensors which send an electrical pulse to nerve cells at the back of the eye. These transmit the message to the brain.
Miikka can now tell an apple from a banana and right Professor Robert Maclaren
The device is powered by a thin cable that runs from the eye, out of the side of the skull and is attached to a battery behind the ear.
The new study reveals that three patients have been able to see grainy images of objects and recognise shapes after having the device fitted.
Finn Miikka Terho, 46, was able to walk around a room with ease, read his own name and even tell researchers they had spelt it wrongly.
He could recognise shades of grey, read the time from a clock and pick up an apple and a banana from the table in front of him.
Before the implant he was totally blind apart from being able to detect changes between light and dark.
The pilot study, published in the Proceedings of the Royal Society B Journal, means the technology behind the device works, is safe and is ready to be tested on a larger number of patients in a proper clinical trial.
Although it does not mean patients will ever be able to see normally, it does raise the prospect that the blind will be helped to see enough to regain some independence.
Prof Robert Maclaren, Professor of Ophthalmology at Oxford University, will conduct the next trial.
He said: “This is a big breakthrough, no two ways about it. To take someone who is blind and help them see again is pretty incredible.”
He added: “The successful testing of this electronic implant in Germany is without doubt a truly significant advance.
“One previously blind patient was able to read his own name with the implant switched on. Until now, this concept would have been considered only in the realms of science fiction.”
In recent years, scientists have helped to restore vision using a small camera mounted on spectacles.
This allowed a rough interpretation of an image beamed through a wire into the brain.
But the new device, developed by German scientist Prof Eberhart Zrenner, shows that the damaged light receptor cells in the eye can simply be replaced by a microchip.
The rest of the image is obtained by the natural eye. Prof Zrenner has now set up the technology firm Retinal Implant AG to develop the device.
Around one in 3,000 Britons have retinitis pigmentosa, which destroys light cells in the eye.The condition, triggered by a range of genes, is incurable and untreatable.
More than 10 times as many people have macular degeneration.
It usually affects older adults and leads to a loss of central vision, making it difficult or impossible to read or recognise faces although enough some peripheral vision remains.
Prof Maclaren said he was thrilled he could now tell patients with retinitis pigmentosa that there was hope ahead after years of having to tell them they would be left completely blind. And he said that although the device did not offer an amazing quality of vision, it would be significant for people who had previously been unable to see anything.
David Head, chief executive of the British Retinitis Pigmentosa Society, welcomed the news, calling it “a very significant advance”. But he said he wanted patients to realise that even this breakthrough would not restore their vision.
He added: “The technology is exciting and hopefully this will advance in the next few years but we have to temper it with reality.”
Up to 12 patients are expected to take part in the British study, due to start early next year at King’s College Hospital, London, and the Oxford Eye Hospital.It is hoped that when the device can be left in place for years instead of months, the brain may learn to interpret the grey and white images into far more accurate pictures of what the eye is really seeing.
Tuesday, November 2, 2010
OGI invests in personalized medicine for age-related macular degeneration
by administrator
Established in 2007 and based in Toronto, ArcticDx has developed a test, Macula Risk®, the first of its kind and specifically designed to determine one's inherited risk for age-related macular degeneration (AMD), the most common form of acquired blindness in the developed world, affecting over 10% of individuals. ArcticDx will use the PBDF investment to undertake studies in support of a planned filing for Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval for Macula Risk.
Macula Risk detects variations in genetic markers known to predict the progression of early asymptomatic AMD to blindness using a cheek swab sample. The eyesight of individuals who are genetically predisposed to blindness can be saved through enhanced surveillance and early treatment. Macula Risk helps target effective care to those who need it most and relieves others who would otherwise live with uncertainty.
"The investment from OGI will support our filing for FDA approval for Macula Risk," commented Mr. Gregory Hines, CEO of ArcticDx. "We think this approval is an important departure from the growing trend of direct to consumer marketing of genetic tests that have only a weak link to science and are often of no clinical value. Macula Risk stands as the best example of a validated test for a multi-genetic common human disease. Achieving FDA approval will position Macula Risk for wide spread adoption."
The Macula Risk test will be marketed to eye care professionals who manage most cases of AMD in North America. These doctors will offer the test to individuals with the dry form of the disease who have not yet lost vision.
In the industrialized world, AMD is the major cause of uncorrectable vision loss in the elderly, affecting over 2.5 million people in Canada and over 25 million people in the USA. Age?related macular degeneration is generally a disease of the elderly with the worldwide incidence of the disease growing from one in ten people over the age of 60 to more than 1 in 4 people over the age of 75. Macular degeneration is more common than Parkinson's disease, Alzheimer's disease, breast cancer and prostate cancer combined.
"Application of genomics technologies is opening the door to an era of personalized medicine in our approach to preventing, detecting and treating human disease," commented Dr. Christian Burks, President and CEO, OGI. "We are particularly pleased to be investing in a company that grew out of applied research funded by Genome Canada through OGI."
The funded work will focus on a cohort of patient samples who had early stage AMD in the Age-Related Eye Disease Study (AREDS), a large eye survey carried out by the American National Eye Institute. These patients were followed over a five-year period to determine progression of the disease. The ArcticDx team will undertake a prospective study on this cohort to evaluate use of Macula Risk in predicting which patients will progress to wet AMD (the late form of AMD) and which will not.
OGI's PBDF program invests in opportunities ? based in genomics, proteomics or associated technologies ? that fall in the proof-of-principle (validation) phase of research and that have the short-term potential to secure a significant next step towards the marketplace. Previous recipients have included Ontario universities, research institutes and companies.
Established in 2007 and based in Toronto, ArcticDx has developed a test, Macula Risk®, the first of its kind and specifically designed to determine one's inherited risk for age-related macular degeneration (AMD), the most common form of acquired blindness in the developed world, affecting over 10% of individuals. ArcticDx will use the PBDF investment to undertake studies in support of a planned filing for Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval for Macula Risk.
Macula Risk detects variations in genetic markers known to predict the progression of early asymptomatic AMD to blindness using a cheek swab sample. The eyesight of individuals who are genetically predisposed to blindness can be saved through enhanced surveillance and early treatment. Macula Risk helps target effective care to those who need it most and relieves others who would otherwise live with uncertainty.
"The investment from OGI will support our filing for FDA approval for Macula Risk," commented Mr. Gregory Hines, CEO of ArcticDx. "We think this approval is an important departure from the growing trend of direct to consumer marketing of genetic tests that have only a weak link to science and are often of no clinical value. Macula Risk stands as the best example of a validated test for a multi-genetic common human disease. Achieving FDA approval will position Macula Risk for wide spread adoption."
The Macula Risk test will be marketed to eye care professionals who manage most cases of AMD in North America. These doctors will offer the test to individuals with the dry form of the disease who have not yet lost vision.
In the industrialized world, AMD is the major cause of uncorrectable vision loss in the elderly, affecting over 2.5 million people in Canada and over 25 million people in the USA. Age?related macular degeneration is generally a disease of the elderly with the worldwide incidence of the disease growing from one in ten people over the age of 60 to more than 1 in 4 people over the age of 75. Macular degeneration is more common than Parkinson's disease, Alzheimer's disease, breast cancer and prostate cancer combined.
"Application of genomics technologies is opening the door to an era of personalized medicine in our approach to preventing, detecting and treating human disease," commented Dr. Christian Burks, President and CEO, OGI. "We are particularly pleased to be investing in a company that grew out of applied research funded by Genome Canada through OGI."
The funded work will focus on a cohort of patient samples who had early stage AMD in the Age-Related Eye Disease Study (AREDS), a large eye survey carried out by the American National Eye Institute. These patients were followed over a five-year period to determine progression of the disease. The ArcticDx team will undertake a prospective study on this cohort to evaluate use of Macula Risk in predicting which patients will progress to wet AMD (the late form of AMD) and which will not.
OGI's PBDF program invests in opportunities ? based in genomics, proteomics or associated technologies ? that fall in the proof-of-principle (validation) phase of research and that have the short-term potential to secure a significant next step towards the marketplace. Previous recipients have included Ontario universities, research institutes and companies.
Saturday, October 23, 2010
CIRM to dole Out $72M to Advance Research and Recruit Stem Cell Scientist
The California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM) approved funding for 19 awards worth $67 million under the Early Translation II Awards program. The 29-member governing board also voted to approve the second Research Leadership Award of $4.8 million, given to aid in recruiting Peter Coffey, D.Phil., from the University College London to the University of California, Santa Barbara.
The Early Translation II Awards are the second of what CIRM expects to be a 12- to 18-month award cycle for translational research grants. The funded projects are expected to either result in a candidate drug or cell therapy or make significant strides toward such a candidate.
“We are looking for ways to complement our leading edge of stem cell-based treatments for patients, and these projects will load our frontline portfolio with promising studies on autism, muscular dystrophy, Canavan disease, and liver disease,” says Alan Trounson, CIRM president.
The awards went to one for-profit and 11 not-for-profit institutions. The for-profit company iPierian will take its award in the form of a loan. Three of the awards include collaborators in Germany. The portion of the projects carried out by these collaborators will be supported by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research, the science financing agency in Germany, which will fund up to $15 million for this round of awards.
The $4.8 million grant under the Research Leadership Award program will be spread over six years and will back Dr. Coffey’s research on maturing embryonic stem cells into retinal pigment epithelial cells to treat macular degeneration and other forms of vision loss such as diabetic retinopathy and retinitis pigmentosa. Dr. Coffey is part of a team working toward a therapy for macular degeneration led by Mark Humayun, M.D., Ph.D., at the University of Southern California.
“Recruiting internationally renowned stem cell experts such as Dr. Coffey builds a critical mass of stem cell leadership in California to drive the creation of innovative therapies for patients suffering from chronic disease or injury,” notes Robert Klein, chair of the CIRM governing board.
The Early Translation II Awards are the second of what CIRM expects to be a 12- to 18-month award cycle for translational research grants. The funded projects are expected to either result in a candidate drug or cell therapy or make significant strides toward such a candidate.
“We are looking for ways to complement our leading edge of stem cell-based treatments for patients, and these projects will load our frontline portfolio with promising studies on autism, muscular dystrophy, Canavan disease, and liver disease,” says Alan Trounson, CIRM president.
The awards went to one for-profit and 11 not-for-profit institutions. The for-profit company iPierian will take its award in the form of a loan. Three of the awards include collaborators in Germany. The portion of the projects carried out by these collaborators will be supported by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research, the science financing agency in Germany, which will fund up to $15 million for this round of awards.
The $4.8 million grant under the Research Leadership Award program will be spread over six years and will back Dr. Coffey’s research on maturing embryonic stem cells into retinal pigment epithelial cells to treat macular degeneration and other forms of vision loss such as diabetic retinopathy and retinitis pigmentosa. Dr. Coffey is part of a team working toward a therapy for macular degeneration led by Mark Humayun, M.D., Ph.D., at the University of Southern California.
“Recruiting internationally renowned stem cell experts such as Dr. Coffey builds a critical mass of stem cell leadership in California to drive the creation of innovative therapies for patients suffering from chronic disease or injury,” notes Robert Klein, chair of the CIRM governing board.
Monday, October 18, 2010
Vitamin A pill could save sight
By Fiona Macrae
A drug based on vitamin A could prevent millions from going blind as they get older, doctors believe.
The treatment was able to stop the most common cause of blindness in old age during trials.
Researchers behind the drug, fenretinide, found it halted the advance of age-related macular degeneration, for which there is currently no cure.
They targeted the most prevalent form of the condition, known as ‘dry’ AMD, which is caused by the deterioration and death of cells in the macula – the part of the retina used to see straight ahead.
The disease robs sufferers of their sight by creating a blackspot in the centre of their vision.
It can make it impossible to carry out everyday tasks such as reading, driving and watching television.
While the less common ‘wet’ form can be treated, nothing can be done to help the bulk of patients.
The U.S. research studied fenretinide, which is derived from vitamin A, the vitamin found in carrots, and which was originally designed to tackle arthritis.
Almost 250 men and women with dry AMD took a fenretinide pill a day or a placebo.
In the highest dose, the drug halted visual deterioration after a year. This suggests that while it was unable to do anything to stop cells that were already damaged from dying, it protected healthy cells. Although the research is still preliminary, it offers promise of a treatment for the disease.
More...
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It affects millions across the world and 300,000 Britons. The number of UK sufferers could more than treble to one million within 25 years as the population ages.
Dr Jason Slakter, of New York University School of Medicine, said: ‘There are currently no effective treatments for dry AMD and the need for finding one is grave.
‘Our study wasn’t designed to give a final answer.
‘It was designed to see if there was a biological effect and if the drug was working in the way we’d expect and to find out if it was well tolerated by patents.
‘I think we answered all of these points favourably. The bottom line is that I am excited about doing more studies.’
Further, larger trials are planned for the end of next year.
If the drug lives up to its initial promise, it could be in widespread use for dry AMD by 2015.
The treatment works because in normal circumstances the eye needs vitamin A to help it see. The retina naturally uses the vitamin and is helped to do so by a compound called retinol binding protein, or RBP.
However in some patients, the vitamin can produce poisons that kill the delicate cells, leading to loss of vision.
Fenretinide acts as a decoy, attaching itself to the RBP and stopping vitamin A from causing harm, the American Academy of Ophthalmology’s annual conference heard.
Wet AMD, in which tiny blood vessels bleed into the retina, is less common, but progresses more rapidly, with central vision being lost within months of diagnosis.
Caught early enough, wet AMD can be stopped in its tracks by a technique called photodynamic therapy, which uses a light-activated dye to destroy abnormal blood vessels. Drug treatments are also available.
Fenretinide also halved the odds of the patients, who already had dry AMD, going on to develop wet AMD.
A spokesman for the research team said: ‘Years of use of fenretinide to treat cancers, rheumatoid arthritis have shown it to be safe and well-tolerated.’
A drug based on vitamin A could prevent millions from going blind as they get older, doctors believe.
The treatment was able to stop the most common cause of blindness in old age during trials.
Researchers behind the drug, fenretinide, found it halted the advance of age-related macular degeneration, for which there is currently no cure.
They targeted the most prevalent form of the condition, known as ‘dry’ AMD, which is caused by the deterioration and death of cells in the macula – the part of the retina used to see straight ahead.
The disease robs sufferers of their sight by creating a blackspot in the centre of their vision.
It can make it impossible to carry out everyday tasks such as reading, driving and watching television.
While the less common ‘wet’ form can be treated, nothing can be done to help the bulk of patients.
The U.S. research studied fenretinide, which is derived from vitamin A, the vitamin found in carrots, and which was originally designed to tackle arthritis.
Almost 250 men and women with dry AMD took a fenretinide pill a day or a placebo.
In the highest dose, the drug halted visual deterioration after a year. This suggests that while it was unable to do anything to stop cells that were already damaged from dying, it protected healthy cells. Although the research is still preliminary, it offers promise of a treatment for the disease.
More...
* The age of the pensionista: Why most women are totally unprepared for retirement
* The rise of the silver surfer: How half of women over 55 log on to Facebook
It affects millions across the world and 300,000 Britons. The number of UK sufferers could more than treble to one million within 25 years as the population ages.
Dr Jason Slakter, of New York University School of Medicine, said: ‘There are currently no effective treatments for dry AMD and the need for finding one is grave.
‘Our study wasn’t designed to give a final answer.
‘It was designed to see if there was a biological effect and if the drug was working in the way we’d expect and to find out if it was well tolerated by patents.
‘I think we answered all of these points favourably. The bottom line is that I am excited about doing more studies.’
Further, larger trials are planned for the end of next year.
If the drug lives up to its initial promise, it could be in widespread use for dry AMD by 2015.
The treatment works because in normal circumstances the eye needs vitamin A to help it see. The retina naturally uses the vitamin and is helped to do so by a compound called retinol binding protein, or RBP.
However in some patients, the vitamin can produce poisons that kill the delicate cells, leading to loss of vision.
Fenretinide acts as a decoy, attaching itself to the RBP and stopping vitamin A from causing harm, the American Academy of Ophthalmology’s annual conference heard.
Wet AMD, in which tiny blood vessels bleed into the retina, is less common, but progresses more rapidly, with central vision being lost within months of diagnosis.
Caught early enough, wet AMD can be stopped in its tracks by a technique called photodynamic therapy, which uses a light-activated dye to destroy abnormal blood vessels. Drug treatments are also available.
Fenretinide also halved the odds of the patients, who already had dry AMD, going on to develop wet AMD.
A spokesman for the research team said: ‘Years of use of fenretinide to treat cancers, rheumatoid arthritis have shown it to be safe and well-tolerated.’
Sunday, October 10, 2010
Prizes Honor Studies in Vision Loss
Posted by admin
NEW YORK – Three scientists have won prestigious medical prizes — one for devising a treatment for a major cause of vision loss and two for laying the groundwork for an explosion in obesity research.
The Lasker Awards, worth $250,000 apiece, will be presented Oct. 1 by the Albert and Mary Lasker Foundation. A fourth scientist is being honored for decades of statesmanship in biomedical sciences.
The clinical research award goes to Dr. Napoleone Ferrara, 54, of the biotech company Genentech in South San Francisco, Calif. He is honored for discovering a protein called VEGF in 1989 and using it to develop a treatment that significantly improves sight for people with a devastating type of age-related macular degeneration.
More than a million people worldwide have been treated based on Ferrara’s research, the Lasker foundation says. The type of age-related macular degeneration his research addressed — “wet” as opposed to the more common “dry” form — accounts for a tenth or more of the 25 million to 30 million cases of AMD worldwide.
Two drugs based on Ferrara’s VEGF research, Lucentis and the cancer medicine Avastin, are used for wet AMD, attacking it by discouraging the formation of an abnormal growth of blood vessels behind the retina.
The Lasker prize for basic research is shared by Douglas Coleman, 78, of the Jackson Laboratory in Bar Harbor, Maine, and Jeffrey Friedman, 56, of Rockefeller University in New York. They are honored for the discovery of the hormone leptin, which helps regulate appetite and body weight.
In the 1970s, Coleman showed that mice have some sort of appetite-suppressing substance in the blood. Friedman identified the substance in 1994 and named it leptin. People have leptin too, and the research opened new avenues for exploring the biological basis of human obesity, the foundation said.
A Lasker award for special achievement in medical research goes to Dr. David Weatherall, 77, of Oxford University. He is honored for 50 years of “international statesmanship in biomedical science,” including his research on an inherited anemia called thalassemia.
The Lasker foundation was established in 1942. Albert Lasker was an advertising executive who died in 1952. His wife Mary was a longtime champion of medical research before her death in 1994.
NEW YORK – Three scientists have won prestigious medical prizes — one for devising a treatment for a major cause of vision loss and two for laying the groundwork for an explosion in obesity research.
The Lasker Awards, worth $250,000 apiece, will be presented Oct. 1 by the Albert and Mary Lasker Foundation. A fourth scientist is being honored for decades of statesmanship in biomedical sciences.
The clinical research award goes to Dr. Napoleone Ferrara, 54, of the biotech company Genentech in South San Francisco, Calif. He is honored for discovering a protein called VEGF in 1989 and using it to develop a treatment that significantly improves sight for people with a devastating type of age-related macular degeneration.
More than a million people worldwide have been treated based on Ferrara’s research, the Lasker foundation says. The type of age-related macular degeneration his research addressed — “wet” as opposed to the more common “dry” form — accounts for a tenth or more of the 25 million to 30 million cases of AMD worldwide.
Two drugs based on Ferrara’s VEGF research, Lucentis and the cancer medicine Avastin, are used for wet AMD, attacking it by discouraging the formation of an abnormal growth of blood vessels behind the retina.
The Lasker prize for basic research is shared by Douglas Coleman, 78, of the Jackson Laboratory in Bar Harbor, Maine, and Jeffrey Friedman, 56, of Rockefeller University in New York. They are honored for the discovery of the hormone leptin, which helps regulate appetite and body weight.
In the 1970s, Coleman showed that mice have some sort of appetite-suppressing substance in the blood. Friedman identified the substance in 1994 and named it leptin. People have leptin too, and the research opened new avenues for exploring the biological basis of human obesity, the foundation said.
A Lasker award for special achievement in medical research goes to Dr. David Weatherall, 77, of Oxford University. He is honored for 50 years of “international statesmanship in biomedical science,” including his research on an inherited anemia called thalassemia.
The Lasker foundation was established in 1942. Albert Lasker was an advertising executive who died in 1952. His wife Mary was a longtime champion of medical research before her death in 1994.
Monday, October 4, 2010
Portable Macular Degeneration (AMD) Early Detection & Screening Device
Health Research Sciences has developed a new portable device allowing early detection of the leading cause of blindness in the US; Age-Related Macular Degeneration (AMD) and Diabetic Maculopathy. This inexpensive and portable device will be an integral part during the next few years in the fight to reduce AMD in the US.
Lighthouse Point, Florida September 30, 2010. Health Research Sciences introduces a new approach for testing macular function with the purpose of early detection of Age-Related Macular Degeneration (AMD), Diabetic Maculopathy and other retinal pathologies. The MDD-2 Macular Degeneration Detection & Screening Device has a unique, hand-held design that measures photostress recovery and solves the problem of inconsistent macular function testing.
The MDD-2 provides reproducible measurements of macular function (precise photostress recovery times) which are documented in a concise format for health professional interpretation. The MDD-2 also permits monitoring of central retinal health over time and can warn of deterioration in function at an early stage. Over 10 million Americans suffer from vision loss due to Macular Degeneration and approximately 4 million Americans are at risk for vision loss from Diabetes and further that these vision disorders cost all Americans over $1 billion annually.
The MDD-2 enables Ophthalmologists, Optometrists, Primary Care Physicians and Endocrinologists to easily and efficiently measure macular function for the purpose of early detection of AMD, Diabetic Retinopathy and other central retinal diseases. The test may be administered by a trained technician/assistant and takes approximately 4 minutes to complete. Results are available immediately and easily interpreted by the physician.
“As Professor of Ophthalmology and Pathology, Johns Hopkins University, School of Medicine, I am very concerned about the need for early detection of Age Related Macular Degeneration (AMD) and Diabetic Retinopathy in the United States. I believe that dark adaptation and photostress recovery measurement are both effective tests for evaluating the function of the macula, detecting macular degeneration and diabetic retinopathy at an early stage.”
Mark O.M. Tso, M.D., D. Sc.
Lighthouse Point, Florida September 30, 2010. Health Research Sciences introduces a new approach for testing macular function with the purpose of early detection of Age-Related Macular Degeneration (AMD), Diabetic Maculopathy and other retinal pathologies. The MDD-2 Macular Degeneration Detection & Screening Device has a unique, hand-held design that measures photostress recovery and solves the problem of inconsistent macular function testing.
The MDD-2 provides reproducible measurements of macular function (precise photostress recovery times) which are documented in a concise format for health professional interpretation. The MDD-2 also permits monitoring of central retinal health over time and can warn of deterioration in function at an early stage. Over 10 million Americans suffer from vision loss due to Macular Degeneration and approximately 4 million Americans are at risk for vision loss from Diabetes and further that these vision disorders cost all Americans over $1 billion annually.
The MDD-2 enables Ophthalmologists, Optometrists, Primary Care Physicians and Endocrinologists to easily and efficiently measure macular function for the purpose of early detection of AMD, Diabetic Retinopathy and other central retinal diseases. The test may be administered by a trained technician/assistant and takes approximately 4 minutes to complete. Results are available immediately and easily interpreted by the physician.
“As Professor of Ophthalmology and Pathology, Johns Hopkins University, School of Medicine, I am very concerned about the need for early detection of Age Related Macular Degeneration (AMD) and Diabetic Retinopathy in the United States. I believe that dark adaptation and photostress recovery measurement are both effective tests for evaluating the function of the macula, detecting macular degeneration and diabetic retinopathy at an early stage.”
Mark O.M. Tso, M.D., D. Sc.
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