Dr. Shinichi Fukuda, postdoctoral fellow in the laboratory of Dr. Jayakrishna Ambati at the University of Kentucky's Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences has received two prestigious awards to advance his research of dry macular degeneration.
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The "Postdoctoral Fellowship for Research Abroad of Japan Society for the Promotion Science," presented by the Japan Society for the Promotion Science, is a two-year award given to foster highly capable researchers with wide international perspectives.
The University of Kentucky Markey Cancer Center will host a special gala on Saturday, Feb. 7, to support its second annual Expressions of Courage exhibit this summer.
Markey's Expressions of Courage exhibit is a yearly art showcase featuring original, artistic expressions connected in some way to an experience with a cancer diagnosis, or crafted by or in memory of a Markey patient whose battle has ended.
University of Kentucky researchers led by Dr. Jayakrishna Ambati, professor and vice-chair in the Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences at the University of Kentucky, have made revealing discoveries about the precise mechanisms of retinal pigmented epithelium (RPE) death in the late stages of age-related macular degeneration (AMD). The findings were released last week in the Proceedings in the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS).
Geographic atrophy, an advanced form of dry AMD characterized by death of the RPE, causes untreatable blindness in millions worldwide.
Tetsuhiro Yasuma, postdoctoral Fellow in the Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences at the University of Kentucky College of Medicine, has been selected to receive the 2014 Fight for Sight Postdoctoral Award from Fight for Sight, a non-profit organization that promotes eye research by providing pilot funding to promising new researchers.
Yasuma received training in biomedical research as an undergraduate student in Japan and general ophthalmology and surgery in graduate school. Yasuma joined the Ambati lab at UK in 2012.
Charles Wright, postdoctoral Fellow in the Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences at the University of Kentucky College of Medicine, has received The Loris and David Rich Postdoctoral Scholar Award from the International Retina Research Foundation (IRRF).
The Loris and David Rich Postdoctoral Scholar Award is one of three IRRF Scholar Awards that have been designated in honor of individuals who played a critical role in the development of the International Retinal Research Foundation and are meant to serve as a memorial to their efforts.
Reo Yasuma, postdoctoral Fellow in the Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences at the University of Kentucky College of Medicine, has been named one of only four recipients worldwide to receive the annual Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology(ARVO)/Alcon Early Career Clinician-Scientist Research Award.
The ARVO/Alcon Early Career Clinician-Scientist Research Awards are presented annually in recognition of significant research by clinician-scientists engaged in basic or clinical vision research.
Nagaraj Kerur, a post-doctoral fellow in the lab of Dr. Jayakrishna Ambati, Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences at the University of Kentucky College of Medicine, has received a prestigious K99/R00 award from the National Eye Institute (NEI). This Pathway to Independence award is one of only four given by the NEI in the nation annually.
The award will provide up to five years of support consisting of two phases. The initial mentored phase will provide support for up to two years for the most promising and exceptionally talented new investigators.
Ana Bastos-Carvalho, a visiting scholar in the Ambati research group in the Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences at the University of Kentucky College of Medicine, received the Global Ophthalmology Research Award from Bayer HealthCare for her research, "Mechanisms of geographic atrophy expansion in age-related macular degeneration." http://www.bayer-ophthalmology-awards.com/html/b-about-c.html
“We are studying age-related macular degeneration (AMD), the disease responsible for most cases of legal blindness in the American elderly population”, Bastos-Carvalho said.
Dr. Jayakrishna Ambati, professor and vice chair in the Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences and professor in the Department of Physiology at the University of Kentucky College of Medicine,is one of 11 recipients of the 2014 Harrington Scholar-Innovator Awards given by the Harrington Discovery Institute at University Hospitals (UH) Case Medical Center.
Bradley Gelfand, assistant professor in the Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences at the University of Kentucky College of Medicine, has received a $100,000 one-year grant from the International Retinal Research Foundation (IRRF) for his study “Iron-induced Alu RNA stability and toxicity in geographic atrophy.”
Gelfand's lab is investigating the integration of two disease causing phenomena -- iron overload and Alu RNA buildup - into one overarching model.
"The disease we are studying is geographic atrophy, which is the advanced stage of ‘dry’ age-related macular degeneration," Ge
Dr. Jayakrishna Ambati, professor and vice chair in the Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences and professor of physiology at the University of Kentucky College of Medicine, will receive the 2013 Mark Brothers Award from the Indiana University School of Medicine.
Dr. and Mrs. Guey C. Mark created the endowed Mark Brothers Lectureship to recognize nationally and internationally renowned medical scientists of Asian descent. The Mark Brothers Lectureship was established in 1997 in honor of Dr.
Bradley Gelfand, assistant professor in the Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences at the University of Kentucky College of Medicine, has been awarded a research grant from the American Heart Association to study atherosclerosis.
The grant will be used to determine whether the same novel findings previously discovered in human age-related macular degeneration also apply to human atherosclerosis. In particular, which levels and activity of the enzyme Dicer are altered in the vessel wall during atherosclerotic lesion formation.
