Category: Research News

Dietary Supplements: Do They Help with AMD?

Drs. Barbara Blodi, Ronald Danis, and Suresh Chandra are among the authors of the long-awaited AREDS2 study, which examined the effect of various dietary supplements (including omega-3 fatty acids, lutein and zeaxanthin) in subjects with age-related macular degeneration. UW Health Drs. Justin Gottlieb, Michael Ip, Michael Altaweel, and Thomas Stevens also followed patients for the …

Finding New Treatments for AMD

Dr. Nader Sheibani and colleagues at UW–Madison (including co-investigators Dr. Christine Sorenson and Dr. Bikash Pattnaik, Dr. Ronald Danis, and Dr. Daniel Albert), Northwestern University and the University of Nebraska Medical Center were recently awarded a $6.2 million grant over five years from the National Eye Institute to study new treatments for wet AMD. Quest …

DR. DANIEL ALBERT PROFILES AN OPHTHALMIC PREDECESSOR

On the 250th anniversary of the death of composer George Frideric Handel, Dr. Daniel Albert recently spoke to BBC Radio about the signs, symptoms, and probable eye diseases of Handel and Bach and why they went blind. Both composers were treated by Chevalier John Taylor, a British eye surgeon and shameless self-promoter with an unsavory …

EYE RESEARCH INSTITUTE ANNUAL POSTER SESSION

Eye Research Institute and Visual Culture Center members and associated scientists, researchers, postdocs, graduate students, and advanced undergraduates with wide-ranging interests in vision gathered to showcase both scientific research and artistic works in the annual ERI poster session. Outstanding graduate student and postdoctoral trainee poster and artwork presentations were recognized with the following awards: Best …

ERI GUEST LECTURER

Professor Stephen Palmer, Department of Psychology, UC-Berkeley Dr. Palmer will present a talk on “Aesthetics in Vision Science: Understanding Preferences for Color.” His interests are in perceptual organization in vision, contextual effects on local cognitive processing, the aesthetics of color and spatial arrangement, and the nature and order of visual processing.

MEMORIAL LIBRARY HONORS LOUIS BRAILLE WITH EXHIBIT

A small exhibit on the first floor of Memorial Library honors the bicentenary of the birth of Louis Braille, born in 1809 in Coupvray, near Paris, France, and died in 1852 in Paris. The system of printing and writing Louis Braille developed while still in his teens now bears his name and enjoys wide use. …

DANIEL UHLRICH, PHD, NAMED CHAIR OF SMPH’S ANIMAL CARE & USE COMMITTEE

Daniel Uhlrich, PhD, of the Department of Anatomy has been named Chair of the SMPH Animal Care and Use Committee (ACUC). This committee is responsible for oversight and evaluation of the School’s animal care and use program, procedures, and facilities to ensure that they are consistent with recommendations of the NIH Guide for the Care …

BRAINPORT DEVICE DEBUTS AT 40TH ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATION FOR NEI

Erik Weihenmayer, a blind mountain climber, will describe his experiences with BrainPort at the NEI 40th anniversary kickoff. The event will feature a screening of Blindsight, an award-winning documentary chronicling Weihenmayer’s mountain-climbing journey up the north face of Mount Everest with six blind Tibetan teenagers. Researchers will also debut the third-generation BrainPort device, produced by …

DR. MARGARET MCFALL-NGAI AWARD GUGGENHEIM FELLOWSHIP

Margaret McFall-Ngai, Professor in the Department of Medical Microbiology & Immunology, has been awarded a 2009 Fellowship by the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation. During her Guggenheim term, Dr. McFall-Ngai will study the role of symbiosis in shaping evolutionary selection, specifically on the form and function of the animal immune system. The traditional view of …

2009 ERI RAPID RESPONSE INITIATIVE GRANTS FUNDED

The Eye Research Institute has awarded grants to the following five projects in 2009: An in vitro model of eye movements and choice Principal Investigator, Michele A. Basso (Physiology; Ophthalmology & Visual Sciences) Collaborator: Meyer B. Jackson (Physiology) Use of vitamin D3 analogues for the treatment of neovascular AMD Principal Investigator, Ronald P. Danis(Ophthalmology & …