University of Minnesota Wins $2.2M NEI Grant to Study Fibulin-3 in Retinal Disease
Funding supports work on the retinal extracellular matrix protein fibulin-3 to guide drug testing and speed development of treatments for vision loss.
Overview
- The University of Minnesota Medical School received a four-year, $2.2 million award from the National Eye Institute, which was announced Wednesday and carries grant number 2R01EY027785-07A1.
- The project centers on fibulin-3, an extracellular matrix protein found outside retinal cells that researchers say is linked to multiple blinding eye diseases.
- Planned work under the grant includes lab studies to map how the retina makes and clears key extracellular matrix proteins and creation of new tools to study fibulin-3.
- The team will run preclinical tests of selected FDA-approved drugs as repurposing candidates aimed at reducing symptoms of age-related macular degeneration and treating Doyne honeycomb/Malattia Leventinese dystrophy.
- Investigators led by John Hulleman, PhD, at the Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Neurosciences in Minneapolis–Saint Paul say the effort could shorten the path to practical therapies and improve understanding of processes that drive age-related vision loss.