Dr. David Gamm, who is an Assistant Professor of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences and member of the UW Eye Research Institute, has been awarded a 5-year grant for the project “Customized iPS Cell Therapy for Recessive Monogenetic Retinal Degenerative Diseases.” Stem cells can be produced from a patient’s skin cells (known as induced pluripotent stem cells – iPS cells), treated to correct the underlying gene defect, then transplanted back into the original donor’s eye. The hope is that this will produce a customized therapeutic strategy to “cure” certain retinal diseases. The team of researchers on this project – including UW’s Dr. James Thomson and Dr. Derek Hei, Dr. Eric Pierce of the University of Pennsylvania, and Dr. Raymond Lund from the Oregon Health and Science University – believe this approach will move the research to the clinic as rapidly as possible.
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