Safal Khanal, OD, PhD, FAAO, was awarded a two-year R21 grant from the National Eye Institute to evaluate the efficacy of a novel, wavelength-based method in slowing the progression of myopia (nearsightedness) in children.

by Satina Richardson

Safal Khanal, OD, PhD, FAAO, UAB School of Optometry assistant professor, was awarded the Irvin M. and Beatrice Borish Award from the American Academy of Optometry (AAO). This award recognizes an outstanding young scientist or clinician scientist who shows exceptional promise in conducting independent optometric research directly related to etiology, prevention, detection, diagnosis or management of clinical eye disorders. 

Researchers at the University of Alabama at Birmingham have found a potential link between putative retinal gliosis and Alzheimer’s disease in a recently published study. The study, published in the Investigative Ophthalmology & Visual Science journal, demonstrates that putative retinal gliosis could be a sign of Alzheimer’s disease-related neuroinflammation, an inflammatory response within the brain or spinal cord.

Modifier genes add complexity to precision medicine. A modifier gene is one that has genetic variants such as single nucleotide changes that differ from the most common sequence in the population. These variants do not cause disease by themselves but can lessen or exacerbate a different genetic disease phenotype by unknown mechanisms.

Read more on UAB News

by Satina Richardson

UAB School of Optometry vision scientists are participating in research to evaluate how changes in the retina might play a role in diagnosing Alzheimer’s disease. Their findings could lead to non-invasive, low-cost tests and the early diagnosis of the disease, which progresses for decades before symptoms of dementia emerge.

Retinal degeneration in the disease retinitis pigmentosa is caused by a family of hereditary mutations that slowly lead to blindness over years or decades. A mouse model of one of these forms of retinitis pigmentosa, RP59, exhibits key biochemical and diagnostic features of human RP59, University of Alabama at Birmingham researchers report in the journal Cell Death and Disease.

by Satina Richardson

Yuqiang (Bob) Bai, PhD, UAB School of Optometry researcher, has been awarded a National Institutes of Health (NIH)/National Eye Institute (NEI) $1.8 million five-year R01 grant. Findings could improve dry eye disease diagnosis and monitoring.   

It is predicted that, by 2030, some 39 million people in the United States will have myopia, or nearsightedness, according to the National Eye Institute. Earlier research suggests that the use of low-dose atropine drops plays a role in slowing the progression of myopia in children living in Asian countries. However, new research from the University of Alabama at Birmingham found that the use of low-dose atropine eye drops was no better than placebo drops at slowing myopia progression and elongation of the eyes of a diverse group of children living in the United States.

Read more on UAB News 

by Nathan Anderson

Terri Call, OD, was first author of a paper titled Real-Time Ocular Comfort Reporting in Monthly Replacement Contact Lens Wearers. The featured research is the first study to describe real-time contact lens comfort over the life of a monthly replacement contact lens.

by Satina Richardson 

Edmund Arthur, OD, PhD, FAAO, was awarded a National Institute of Health R21 grant from the National Institute on Aging. The $408,375 two-year pilot grant aims to develop a novel, non-invasive, and cost-effective retinal vascular biomarker for early Alzheimer’s Disease (AD) risk detection and disease monitoring.

In a preclinical model, School of Optometry researchers Timothy Gawne, Ph.D., and Thomas Norton, Ph.D., studied how adjusting visual cues through chromatically simulated myopic blur could be useful in slowing the progression of myopia, or nearsightedness. Read more on UAB News

Safal Khanal, OD, PhD, FAAO, assistant professor at the UAB School of Optometry, received the 2022 Career Development Award from the American Academy of Optometry (AAO). Khanal is the School’s first faculty member and one of only six faculty members nationwide to receive this honor since its inception in 2015.

by Satina Richardson

Marina Gorbatyuk, PhD, has been awarded a three-year, $445,500, R01 grant co-funded by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and the National Eye Institute (NEI).

Yuchen Wang, PhD, assistant professor of vision science at the UAB School of Optometry, has been awarded a National Institutes of Health (NIH) Pathway to Independence Award known as an R00 grant. The goal of this award is to further study the molecular mechanisms underlying retinal synapse formation and function which are critical for retinal visual processing and vision.

by Satina Richardson

The University of Alabama at Birmingham is one of the first, if not the first, academic centers in the United States to acquire a new, state-of-the-art microscope that will advance vision science discoveries at the university. This microscope is the only one of its kind in the southeast region and one of few available in the United States due to the newness of the technology. 

by Satina Richardson

Jeffrey Walline, OD, PhD, delivered the 2021 Springer Lecture. This was the 23rd year for this esteemed event, which is supported by the Nathaniel E. Springer Memorial Fund established in 1999 by the Springer family and Donald Springer, OD, in memory of his father. Springer was instrumental in founding the School of Optometry.

Jillian F. Ziemanski, OD, PhD, FAAO, is the 2021 recipient of the Korb-Exford Dry Eye Career Development Grant by the American Academy of Optometry Foundation. The grant is designed to support an individual to further their knowledge in the broad area of dry eye disease.

by Satina Richardson

Jason Nichols, OD, MPH, PHD, FAAO, has been named UAB’s senior associate president for research. Nichols’ existing responsibilities include leading entrepreneurial and clinical trial initiatives in the Office of Research, serving on the Center for Clinical and Translational Science Executive Committee, and ongoing return to research operations planning. He will now also assume leadership duties of the merged offices of Research Development & Internal Programs as well as Research Engagement & Partnerships. 

by Caleb Jones

Yuqiang (Bob) Bai, PhD, a researcher in the lab of Jason Nichols, OD, MPH, PHD, FAAO, has been awarded an NEI/NIH R21 grant to develop an interferometry system with unprecedented sub-micron resolution to understand tear film structure and function in dry eye disease. The grant is for two years, totaling $370,101.

Research funding to the University of Alabama at Birmingham from the National Institutes of Health exceeded $325 million in 2020. The university received $325,573,502, according to the Blue Ridge Institute for Medical Research. That placed UAB 27th in the list of universities receiving funding from the NIH. Among public universities, UAB ranked 12th.

Read more on UAB News

The 2020 Springer Lecture honored Toronto-based optometrist Barbara Caffery, OD, PhD, FAAO. During her lecture, titled “Corneas, Contact Lenses and the Vale of Tears,” she noted the current leading matters of concern being faced by optometrists as well as the role of optometrists in unveiling the natural history of eye disease.

The American Public Health Association (APHA) has recognized Jason Nichols, OD, MPH, PhD, FAAO, UAB associate vice president for research and professor at the UAB School of Optometry, with its 2020 Vision Care Section (VSC) Outstanding Scientific Paper Award.

Researchers who made a knock-in mouse-model of the genetic disorder retinitis pigmentosa 59, or RP59, expected to see retinal degeneration and retinal thinning. As reported in the journal Cells, they surprisingly found none, calling into question the commonly accepted — though never proved — mechanism for RP59. 

Read more on UAB News 

Michael Savage, PhD, postdoctoral fellow, has been awarded an NEI/NIH F32 grant to study the relationship between neuronal orientation and color selectivity in the primary visual cortex.

The grant is for three years, totaling $136,823. It has been 20 years since one of these competitive postdoctoral grants from NEI was won by someone in the UAB School of Optometry.

Lawrence Sincich, Ph.D., associate professor and interim director of the graduate program in the School of Optometry at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, has received a grant renewal of $1.02 million from the National Institutes of Health, continuing his research on imaging and microstimulation of photoreceptors, the cells in the eyes that allow people to see.

Read more on UAB News

Timothy Kraft, PhD, professor and interim associate dean for research in the UAB School of Optometry, has received a grant renewal of $464,046 from the National Institutes of Health (NIH), continuing research about the comprehensive quantification of cone dynamics. The cost for all 4-years is $1.77 million, and this notice is the award of year two of the four years. 

Researcher Om Srivastava, PhD, professor at the UAB School of Optometry, hopes to slow the progression of age-related cataracts, the most common causes of blindness in the world.

An R01 grant awarded to Lei Liu, PhD, FAAO, UAB School of Optometry associate professor, by the National Eye Institute/National Institutes of Health, will study the use of virtual reality and intelligent tutoring to make low vision rehabilitation more accessible and affordable.

Marina Gorbatyuk, PhD, associate professor of vision science, has been awarded a National Institutes of Health $297,000 R21 grant to study an animal model for the treatment of diabetic retinopathy and improve the sight of patients with the condition.

Jillian Ziemanski, OD, MS, FAAO, research assistant professor at the UAB School of Optometry, has been awarded a 5-year K23 grant for $717,250 from the National Eye Institute to evaluate mechanisms of autoimmunity in patients who have dry eye disease due to primary Sjögren’s syndrome (pSS).

By AJ Stephens

The UAB School of Optometry’s pediatric eye clinic was named the November Pediatric Eye Disease Investigator Group (PEDIG) site of the month for recruiting the highest number of pediatric patients for clinical trials. The studies,  being conducted in partnership with the National Institutes of Health (NIH), Optometry and Ophthalmology, focus on conditions like lazy eye, eye turns and myopia.

A team of researchers at the University of Alabama at Birmingham’s School of Optometry have been awarded a $1.5 million R01 grant to investigate ways to reduce the development of myopia, also known as nearsightedness.

Timothy Gawne, Ph.D., associate professor of optometry and vision science, was awarded the grant by the National Eye Institute based on research that suggests exposure to narrow-band red light can slow axial elongation.

With the addition of EyePrint PRO and the purchase of an sMap3D scleral topographer, the UAB School of Optometry now has the most advanced scleral contact lens technology available in its UAB Eye Care clinic. This means that almost all patients who need them can be fitted with a customized scleral contact lens.

Faculty members from the University of Alabama at BirminghamSchool of Optometry have received Pilot Award Grants from the Vision Science Research Center (VSRC), to support new project ideas that could have great potential to advance understanding of ocular disease.

A researcher at the UAB School of Optometry has been awarded a $1.25 million R01 grant from the National Eye Institute to study the regulation of protein synthesis in photoreceptors of mice with inherited retinal degeneration.

This research, led by Marina Gorbatyuk, PhD, associate professor of vision science, will not only lead to a better understanding of vision loss in humans, but will also promote the development of new strategies for stopping retinal degeneration.

In exchange for biomedical research in vision science, the National Institutes of Health are repaying the student debt of four faculty members at the UAB School of Optometry.

The faculty members who have contracts with the NIH Loan Repayment Programs, established by Congress to recruit and retain highly qualified health professionals into biomedical or biobehavioral research careers, are: Anna Ablamowicz, O.D., clinical assistant professor; Stephanie Cox, O.D., clinical assistant professor; Andrew Pucker, O.D., Ph.D., assistant professor; and Jillian Ziemanski, O.D., M.S., clinical assistant professor.

The programs repay up to $35,000 annually of a researcher’s qualified educational debt in return for a commitment to engage in NIH mission-relevant research.

Two UAB School of Optometry faculty recently spoke to Birmingham pediatricians about the recommended guidelines for treating myopic pediatric patients and shared research about slowing myopia progression over time.

Katherine Weise, O.D., professor at the School of Optometry, and Andrew Pucker, O.D., assistant professor, spoke to grand rounds attendees at Children’s of Alabama on Thursday, June 22. Their presentation, “Controlling Nearsightedness: Headlines, Hyperbole, and Hypotheses vs. The Evidence,” also included information about the newly developed Myopia Control Clinic at UAB Eye Care.

If one or both parents of a child is myopic, or nearsighted, odds are the child will also develop myopia, explained Weise.

Two research presentations by UAB School of Optometry faculty and students were identified as some of the newest and most innovative topics at the Annual Meeting of the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology (ARVO).

The presentations are part ARVO’s list of Emerging Trends and Hot Topics, which is compiled by ARVO committee members. The 2017 ARVO Annual Meeting was held May 7-11 in Baltimore, Maryland.

A faculty member and a doctoral student at the UAB School of Optometry were awarded university funding for their research on dry eye disease.

Andrew Pucker, O.D., Ph.D., assistant professor, and Cameron Postnikoff, MASc, a doctoral student in the School of Optometry's Vision Science Graduate Program, received $10,000 as part of the UAB Faculty Development Grant Program for their proposal, “Tear Transcriptome Associations with Dry Eye Disease.”

The UAB School of Optometry's Clinical Eye Research Facility is recruiting subjects for a contact lens comfort study. Participants who are happy contact lens wearers and those who have stopped wearing contact lenses for any reason may be eligible to participate. The study will involve a series of commonly used clinical tests. Photos of participants' eyes will be taken.

Minimum Eligibility Requirements:

COLUMBUS, Ohio – A study of 4,500 U.S. children over 20 years has identified a single test that can predict which kids will become nearsighted by the eighth grade: a measure of their current refractive error.

The refractive error, or eyeglasses prescription, results from mismatches in the size and optical power of the eye that lead to blurry vision.

The study also counters the notion that near work such as frequent reading or sitting too close to the television can bring on myopia, or nearsightedness.

UAB School of Optometry, under the leadership of Drs. Wendy Marsh-Tootle and Kristine Hopkins, was awarded approximately $500,000 in grant funding by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) for the Convergence Insufficiency Treatment Trial-Attention and Reading Trial (CITT-ART). UABSO is one of eight clinical sites nationwide participating in this study.