Ophthalmology And Visual Sciences

By determining how proteins in different areas of the eye’s lens change over time, Vanderbilt researchers have learned more about how they could contribute to the mysterious progression of cataracts—a clouding of the lens that affects more than 65 million people worldwide each year.   Read More

Sabine Fuhrmann and colleagues have discovered a novel underlying cause of coloboma — a birth defect that causes missing tissue in the eye and accounts for up to 10% of childhood blindness. Read More

Researchers at Vanderbilt University Medical Center have shown for the first time that when one optic nerve in the eye is damaged, as in glaucoma, the opposite optic nerve comes to the rescue by sharing its metabolic energy. Read More

A drug that targets multiple pathogenic steps in diabetic retinopathy may be an ideal therapeutic strategy for the disease, Vanderbilt researchers report. Read More

Vanderbilt Eye Institute researchers have discovered that an imbalance in the ionic environment of retinal ganglion cells may contribute to functional impairments in glaucoma. Read More

Tonia Rex and David Calkins were recently awarded National Eye Institute grants totaling $6.8 million over five years to develop new treatments for optic neuropathies and glaucoma, the leading cause of irreversible blindness. Read More

David Calkins, PhD, vice chair and director of Research at the Vanderbilt Eye Institute, has been granted one of the preeminent awards in vision research — the Research to Prevent Blindness (RPB) Stein Innovation Award. Read More

Paul Sternberg Jr., MD, G.W. Hale Professor of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences at Vanderbilt and chair of the department, has been named to receive the 2018 Award of Merit in Retina Research Recipient by the Retina Society. Read More

The misrepresentation of scholarly work among residency applicants has been documented for decades, said Louise Mawn, MD, professor of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences at Vanderbilt University Medical Center. Read More

The intricacies of preparing a reed for an oboe resembles the skill set necessary for oculoplastic surgery. As a once aspiring oboist, Rachel Sobel, MD, relates to the comparison. Read More

New findings highlight microRNAs — molecules that regulate gene expression — that are differentially expressed in glaucoma and could be candidate biomarkers or targets for therapy. Read More

The rates of myopia, or nearsightedness, in pediatric patients have steadily increased with little to no change in treatment, which, for decades, has had ophthalmologists and optometrists turning to corrective lenses for improved vision. Read More

A team of researchers, led by David Calkins, PhD, vice chair and director of Research at the Vanderbilt Eye Institute, has made a breakthrough discovery in the field of glaucoma showing new hopes for treatments to preserve vision. Read More

Paul Sternberg Jr., MD, George Weeks Hale Professor and chair of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences at Vanderbilt, was recently named president-elect of the Association of University Professors of Ophthalmology (AUPO). Read More

Prescription opioid abuse is at epidemic levels, and Vanderbilt University Medical Center’s Shriji Patel, M.D., assistant professor of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences, wanted to find out what part, if any, his colleagues play in the crisis. Read More

Vanderbilt researcher Tonia Rex, Ph.D., is accustomed to performing studies in her lab with a goal of translating the findings into better diagnoses and treatment tools for the visually impaired. Read More

Uyen Tran, M.D., has performed hundreds of corneal transplants for her patients at Vanderbilt University Medical Center (VUMC). Read More

Sean Donahue, M.D., Ph.D., Sam and Darthea Coleman Professor of Pediatric Ophthalmology at Vanderbilt, recently received the Bonnie Strickland Champion for Children’s Vision Award. Read More

On Aug. 21 millions of people will look skyward as day turns into night when the first coast-to-coast solar eclipse in nearly a century passes over Middle Tennessee. Read More

A signaling molecule called interleukin-6 may be a therapeutic target to prevent vision loss or nerve degeneration in glaucoma, Vanderbilt researchers have discovered. Read More