Dr. Miranda Scalabrino Wisconsin Eye Institute Awarded a $90,000 Knights Templar Eye Foundation Grant for Harnessing Adaptive Mechanisms to Improve Vision in Photoreceptor Degenerations

Dr. Miranda Scalabrino from the Medical College of Wisconsin Eye Institute located in Milwaukee, Wisconsin was awarded a $90,000 grant for Harnessing Adaptive Mechanisms to Improve Vision in Photoreceptor Degenerations.

Childhood blindness has many causes. Some forms are acquired by circumstance, like retinopathy of prematurity, and some are hereditary, like retinitis pigmentosa. Gene therapies are being developed for blindness where a non-disease-causing virus is hijacked to shuttle genetic fixes to impacted cells. Some therapies have succeeded in improving vision, but their long-term success is questionable because light sensitive cells, called photoreceptors, at the back of the eye continue to die following therapy. Photoreceptors are the first step in vision, so their loss leads to eventual blindness. However, the eye has a remarkable ability to adapt to this cell loss, at least initially, which preserves vision longer than previously thought.

Dr. Scalabrino will define and harness these adaptations to extend vision recovery in children with retinitis pigmentosa. This will be accomplished using a mouse model of retinitis pigmentosa and delivering gene therapy. Adaptations will be identified bylooking at gene expression changes in photoreceptors that received therapy compared to photoreceptors that did not and from healthy animals. This tells Dr. Scalabrino what processes within the cell remain impaired and can be corrected to stop cell death. It also tells her pathways that are corrected by gene therapy. Additionally, Dr. Scalabrino will modify how photoreceptors send light signal to other cells by strengthening the connections between those cells. By strengthening connections, she ensures light signal continues to be transmitted even after many photoreceptors have been lost. Overall, she will define adaptations that can be harnessed for lasting cures for childhood blindness.