2026 Recipients
Curtis Brandt
Professor
Dept. Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences; Medical Microbiology & Immunology, SMPH
Proposal title:
Mechanisms of Sensory Nerve Loss in HSV-1 Keratitis
Funding agency:
NIH PED2 (Pathophysiology of Eye Disease)
Award amt:
$10,000
Xin Huang
Associate Professor
Dept. of Neuroscience, SMPH
Proposal title:
Neural Mechanisms Underlying Perceptual Organization
Funding agency:
NIH NBVP (Neuroscience of Basic Visual Processes)
Award amt:
$10,000
Donna M. Neumann
Associate Professor
Dept. of Ophthalmology & Visual Sciences, SMPH
Proposal title:
Inhibiting repair of the Herpes Simplex Virus genome for therapeutic effect
Funding agency:
NIH/NIAID, VPI (Viral Pathogenesis and Immunity)
Award amt:
$10,000
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2025 Recipients
2025 Recipients
Gillian McLellan
Professor
Dept. of Surgical Sciences, SVM / Dept. of Ophthalmology & Visual Sciences, SMPH
Proposal title:
Novel mouse models to elucidate the role of LTBP2 in the outflow pathway
Funding agency:
NIH NEI, PED1 (Pathophysiology of Eye Disease)
Award amt:
$10,000
Donna M. Neumann
Associate Professor
Dept. of Ophthalmology & Visual Sciences, SMPH
Proposal title:
A chromatin loop controls the expression of anterograde transport genes during HSV-1 latency
Funding agency:
NIH/NIAID, VDT (Viral Dynamics and Transmission)
Award amt:
$10,000
2024 Recipients
2024 Recipients
Akihiro Ikeda, DVM, PhD
Timothy William Trout Professor in Eye Research
Dept. of Medical Genetics, SMPH
Proposal title:
Role of mitochondrial dynamics in rod photoreceptor cells
Funding agency:
NIH BDE (Biology and Development of the Eye)
Award amt:
$9,998
Colleen McDowell, PhD
Assistant Professor
Dept. of Ophthalmology & Visual Sciences, SMPH
Proposal title:
Crosstalk of TGF-beta and TLR4 pathways in the trabecular meshwork
Funding agency:
NIH NEI, BDE (Biology and Development of the Eye)
Award amt:
$10,000
2023 Recipients
2023 Recipients
Nader Sheibani, PhD
Professor
Dept. of Ophthalmology & Visual Sciences, SMPH
Proposal title:
Regulation of Mast Cell Homeostasis and Pathogenesis of Dry AMD by Thrombospondin-1
Funding agency:
NIH/NEI PED1
Award amt:
$10,000
2022 Recipients
No Grant Summit Program funding was awarded this year
2021 Recipients
Karen Schloss, PhD
Associate Professor
Dept. of Psychology, Letters & Sciences
Proposal title:
Our Cosmic Neighborhood: Tailoring VR Environments to Engage Our Local Rising Stars in the Search for Life Beyond Earth
Funding agency:
NSF
Award amt:
$8,500
Raunak Sinha, PhD
Associate Professor
Dept. of Neuroscience, SMPH
Proposal title:
Sensory adaptation at early stages of the primate visual system
Funding agency:
NIH
Award amt:
$10,000
2020 Recipients
Gillian McLellan, BVMS, PhD, DECVO, DACVO, FARVO
Professor
Dept. of Surgical Sciences, SVM
Dept. of Ophthalmology & Visual Sciences, SMPH
Proposal title:
Disease mechanisms at the intersection of glaucoma and Alzheimer’s disease
Funding agency:
NIH/NIA
Award amt:
$9,500
2019 Recipients
Colleen McDowell, PhD
Assistant Professor
Dept. of Ophthalmology & Visual Sciences, SMPH
Proposal title:
Toll-like receptor 4 signaling in the glaucomatous optic nerve head
Funding agency:
NIH/NEI
Award amt:
$10,000
Karen Schloss, PhD
Associate Professor
Dept. of Psychology,
Letters & Sciences
Proposal title:
CAREER: Understanding visual reasoning for scientific communication
Funding agency:
NSF
Award amt:
$9,700
Ismail Zaitoun, PhD
Assistant Professor
Dept. of Ophthalmology & Visual Sciences, SMPH
Proposal title:
Gender impact and retinal damage in hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy
Funding agency:
NIH/NEI
Award amt:
$9,600
2018 Recipients
Jeremy Rogers, PhD
Director of the Wisconsin Advanced Imaging of Visual Systems Lab (WAIVS)
Dept. of Ophthalmology & Visual Sciences, SMPH
Proposal title:
Combining Optical Coherence Microscopy with Optical Metabolic Imaging for
quantitative imaging of retinal cell function
Funding agency:
NIH/NIBIB
Award amt:
$7,300
2017 Recipients
Andrea Mason, PhD
Professor
Dept. of Kinesiology, SoE
Proposal title:
Simulating activities of daily living for the assessment of fall risk in older adults
Funding agency:
NSF
Award amt:
$3,600