Wayne State University School of Medicine researcher Ghulam Mohammad, Ph.D., received a $15,000 seed grant through the Eversight Center for Vision and Eye Banking Research to advance his ophthalmic research.
Dr. Mohammad is a research scientist in the lab of Professor of Ophthalmology, Visual and Anatomical Sciences Renu Kowluru, Ph.D.
He will use the funding to investigate the epigenetic link between oxidative stress and inflammation in corneal wound healing in diabetes.
The Eversight Eye & Vision Research Grant Program provides funding to emerging and established investigators for new and pioneering research. Grants up to $15,000 are awarded to develop promising foundational research, collect initial data and conduct laboratory work.
“This award will help me to collect preliminary data for my R01 grant submissions this year,” Dr. Mohammad said.
Eversight is a nonprofit organization with a mission to restore sight and prevent blindness through the donation, transplantation and research. The organization has awarded more than $4 million since 1980 to support vision research.
“My proposed work is aimed at establishing the link between epigenetics, oxidative stress and inflammation in delayed epithelial wound healing in diabetic corneas,” Dr. Mohammad said. “The outcome of this project will open a novel mechanism regulating superoxide dismutase and DNA methylation in the diabetic cornea. This study will have a high impact on the field by defining a regulatory mechanism(s) involving DNA methylation in keratopathy and will enhance the overall understanding of the mechanisms underlying delayed epithelial wound healing in diabetic corneas.”
The Eversight network is responsible for recovering, evaluating and providing human eye tissue for transplantation; supporting research into the causes and cures of blinding eye conditions; promoting donation awareness through public and professional education; and providing humanitarian aid to people around the world in need of corneal transplantation. Operating in Connecticut, Illinois, Michigan, New Jersey, Ohio and South Korea, Eversight works in collaboration with surgeons, researchers, academic medical centers and eye banks across the United States and abroad.