SERI researchers receive NEI grant to understand origins of eye allergies

Massachusetts Eye and Ear InfirmaryJan 18 2012

The National Eye Institute has awarded researchers at the Schepens Eye Research Institute, a subsidiary of Mass. Eye and Ear, a five year-grant totaling more than $2.4 million to understand the origins of eye allergies (NEI Grant Number 1R01EY021798-01A1).

Daniel R. Saban, Ph.D., M.S., is the principal investigator for the project formally entitled "Cellular and Molecular Mechanisms that Contributed to Ocular Surface Allergy."

Nearly 30 million American suffer from allergies that afflict the surface of the eye, thereby constituting a major health problem in the United States resulting in significant health care costs. Unfortunately, current drug treatments, such as antihistamines, which target end-stage biological events that cause allergies, do not cure this condition.

The research funded by this grant seeks to investigate early-stage events that cause allergy, which may help to uncover more effective targets for treatment of ocular allergies.