For more than two decades, the Knights Templar Eye Foundation, Inc. (KTEF) has supported Boston Children's researchers working to treat, cure, and prevent vision loss. Now, through a $2million gift matched by the Children’s Hospital Ophthalmology Foundation, Boston Children’s Hospital has established the KTEF Research Endowment.

He aims to answer the question: How does impaired protein glutamylation, observed in our mouse model for CCP5-linked blindness, affect photoreceptor function? With the knowledge gained, he proposes to identify novel therapies for blindness resulting from genetic mutations that disrupt the removal of glutamate residues (deglutamylation).

Dr. Abdelrahman aims to study a mouse model of ROP to understand how the tissue regulate the clearance process and what are the differences between the cells in the ability to clear up the corpses. He also has successfully designed a unique molecule that help cells to clear the corpses faster and with better outcome.

As Knights Templar we spread the news of the Light of the World by the way we live our lives and by spreading the Gospels to anyone in need. We bring physical light by providing funding to improve vision through research, education, and supporting access to care. Somewhere in the world, someone goes blind every 5 seconds. I ask you to continue to support the Knights Templar Eye Foundation, Inc. in its mission. Bring the light to those that sit in darkness. Continue the miracles of Jesus Christ by contributing to the 57th Voluntary Campaign. During your next Christmas Observance, pass the plate to collect for the Foundation. Your dollars provide light.

The Knights Templar Eye Foundation Inc. has announced a Pediatric Ophthalmology Research Grant Award Program of $3 Million. The Knights Templar Eye Foundation Inc. (KTEF) invites eligible investigators (clinician scientists and basic research scientists) to submit applications for Pediatric Ophthalmology Career-Starter Research Grants for the next award period of July 1, 2025, to June 30, 2026.

The Children’s Eye Foundation of the American Association for Pediatric Ophthalmologists and Strabismus (AAPOS) has received funding from the Knights Templar Eye Foundation (KTEF) to support educational outreach programs. KTEF awarded $250,000 to CEF’s Stop Infant Blindness in Africa (SIBA) program, as well as $100,000 to the Global Education & Training program. 

Congratulations to Thomas C. Lee, MD on receiving the Grand Encampment Knights Templar USA National Award for his dedicated work fighting childhood blindness and his service to the Knights Templar Eye Foundation.

Based on this study, he can repurpose this approved medicine for a clinical trial in ROP infants. He hopes this medicine will help the infants recover from such a blinding disease and let them see well again.

Dr. Young’s focus is on developing new techniques which combine gene therapy with drug treatment to prevent retinal ganglion cell death in an animal model of NF1. He will also evaluate their effectiveness in maintaining vision.

Because there is now access to cutting edge cameras which can produce 3D representations of the retina and vessels with high resolution, Dr. Young aims to precisely define the rate of vessel growth in prematurity and ROP, as well as characterize microvascular changes at the edge of ROP, with the goal to provide novel avenues to predict disease.