ARVO Foundation for Eye Research (AFER) congratulates the first AFER/Genentech Age-related macular Degeneration Fellowship recipients - Balamurali K. Ambati, MD, PhD, and Stephen H. Tsang, MD, PhD. Each received $40,000 to support their age-related macular degeneration (AMD) research and will be honored at the 2012 ARVO Annual Meeting on Sunday, May 6, in Fort Lauderdale, Fla.
"We are thrilled to present funding to these young investigators to advance knowledge and fundamental mechanisms of AMD, particularly since this is the first time the ARVO Foundation has given awards to foster research," said AFER Chair Nicolas G. Bazan, MD, PhD, FARVO. "Thanks to the support of Genentech, we are able to assist these two scientists in their progression as innovators in this area of eye research."
Ambati, associate professor of ophthalmology and visual science and director of cornea research at the John A. Moran Eye Center, University of Utah, will conduct translational AMD research with a focus on therapeutics. Specifically, his study involves RGD-targeted Flt23k-intraceptor nanoparticles for prevention and treatment of spontaneous choroidal neovascularization in a novel transgenic murine model of AMD.
Tsang, assistant professor of clinical ophthalmology at the Harkness Eye Institute at Columbia University Medical Center, will examine stem cells in personalized, predictive and targeted medicine for AMD.
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