Managing Vision Disorders: Where is the research going?

While new treatments are offering hope where there once was none, the reality of age-related vision problems is daunting. Conditions such as macular degeneration, glaucoma, and cataracts can have a devastating impact on quality of life. As options for activities dwindle, and as vulnerability to falls and injury increases, the tendency to become "shut in" grows.

The American Academy of Ophthalmology estimates that by 2020, 43 million people in the U.S. will suffer from age-related eye diseases, compared with 28 million today. Researchers are intent on stemming that tide, and many baby boomers are demanding new treatments. What progress is being made?

Deepak Lamba, MBBS, PhD is an Assistant Professor at the Buck Institute. His lab is developing stem cell technologies to detect, prevent and treat neurodegenerative eye diseases including macular degeneration and retinitis pigmentosa. This past year, Dr. Lamba received a $1.5 million award from the state stem cell agency to make a 3-D model of the retina. The model will enable studies of retinitis pigmentosa, an inherited disease which usually blinds its sufferers by middle age.

Yvonne Ou, MD is a board-certified ophthalmologist practicing at UCSF. She specializes in glaucoma, including medical, laser and surgical therapies; cataract evaluation and treatment, including combined cataract and glaucoma surgery; and glaucoma implant surgery. Her research interests include glaucoma, in particular, applying neural stem cell biology to the characterization and therapy of glaucoma. Other research interests include the relationship between glaucoma and other neurodegenerative diseases.

This community seminar is generously sponsored by the Levy family in memory of Dr. S. William Levy.

Registration is required via email at the link provided.