Department News
Beatrice Yue, PhD, awarded NEI grant for innovative glaucoma research
Beatrice Yue, PhD, a cell biologist at the Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences, was recently awarded a new individual R01 grant from the National Eye Institute (NEI) to explore the role of optineurin in glaucoma. The project, entitled “Cellular Processing of Optineurin, Product of a Glaucoma Gene,” is proposed to run from February 1, 2009 to January 31, 2013. This is Dr. Yue’s second major award from NEI for glaucoma research.
“This new project examines the cellular processing of optineurin in neuronal cells,” says Dr. Yue, a Thanis A. Field Professor of Ophthalmology and Director of the Ocular Cell Biology Laboratory. “We are excited about the project and are grateful for the support from NEI.”
Glaucoma is one of the leading causes of blindness, but currently does not have a cure. It is estimated that as many as 4-million Americans have glaucoma, and only half of them know they have this disease. Patients cannot regain any vision lost to glaucoma, but with medication and/or surgery they can prevent additional vision loss.
Dr. Yue’s new study is taking a closer look at optineurin, a gene identified in 2002 that is principally associated with low tension or normal tension glaucoma. By examining the cellular processing of optineurin in neuronal cells, Dr. Yue and her team will provide basic information regarding the biology of optineurin. In addition, the researchers will determine whether overexpression of optineurin or mutation of the optineurin gene might lead to the death of retinal ganglion cells, one of the hallmark features of glaucoma. They hypothesize that the optineurin processing is altered upon overexpression and mutation to cause disarray, similar to what has been observed in neurodegenerative Alzheimer and Parkinson diseases. The project’s “rescuing” or treatment efforts may potentially have high translational significance, says Dr. Yue, to avert or reduce cell death seen in glaucoma.
—by Megan Pellegrini