Faculty Recognition

Joseph Arboleda-Velasquez, MD, PhD, received a grant from the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke and National Institute of Aging/National Institutes of Health in the amount of $1,016,301 over five years for his project, "Exploring the Role of Aging in Cerebral Ischemic Small Vessel Disease Using Notch3 Mutant Mice."

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Joan W. Miller, MD, the Henry Willard Williams Professor of Ophthalmology and Chair of Ophthalmology at Harvard Medical School, and Chief of Ophthalmology at Massachusetts Eye and Ear and Massachusetts General Hospital, was inducted into the prestigious National Academy of Medicine (NAM) on October 15, 2016 in Washington, D.C. Dr. Miller is an internationally recognized expert on retinal disorders, including age-related macular degeneration (AMD), retinal degenerations...

Ophthalmologists at Mass. Eye and Ear among the most experienced nationwide with newly FDA-approved corneal cross-linking procedure

Boston, Mass. — Ophthalmologists at Massachusetts Eye and Ear are currently accepting patients who may be candidates for a newly FDA-approved outpatient procedure known as “corneal cross-linking.” Corneal cross-linking is a stabilizing treatment to halt the progression of keratoconus, a...

Congratulations to the Harvard Ophthalmology faculty and alumni who are receiving America Academy Ophthalmology awards for their outstanding contributions to ophthalmology through vision research, education, and service.

Laureate Recognition Award

The Laureate Recognition Award, the Academy’s single highest honor, goes to Matthew D. Davis, MD, for his seminal contributions to ophthalmology. These include: establishing gold standards for conducting clinical studies; pioneering many...

Roberto Pineda II, MD, Associate Professor of Ophthalmology, has been accepted into the International Intraocular Implant Club (IIIC). This prestigious society accepts only 250 members worldwide. Founded in 1966, the IIIC supports research and education in the field of intraocular lens implantation, as well as sponsors and advises national societies as they develop. As the Director of Refractive Surgery on the Cornea Service at Mass. Eye and Ear, Dr. Pineda specializes in laser vision correction, corneal surgery, and...

New findings may pave the way for the development of pharmaceutical therapies to reverse corneal scarring

Boston, Mass. —  In cases of severe ocular trauma involving the cornea, wound healing occurs following intervention, but at the cost of opaque scar tissue formation and damaged vision. Recent research has shown that mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) — which can differentiate into a variety of cells, including bone, cartilage, muscle and fat cells — are capable of returning clarity to scarred corneas; however, the mechanisms by which...

NIH and India fund collaborative grant for glaucoma research

Boston, Mass. —  Researchers from the U.S. and India have begun a new collaborative project to identify genetic risk factors and traits related to glaucoma, a leading cause of blindness worldwide. Funded by the National Eye Institute (NEI), part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), and India’s Department of Biotechnology (DBT), the researchers’ goal is to help develop effective screening, prevention, and treatment strategies for glaucoma. Grants from the two agencies...

Faculty Recognition

Dean Eliott, MD, Evangelos Gragoudas, MD, and Lucia Sobrin, MD, MPH, have been named members of the Ocular Surgery News "Retina 150" list. This is a select...

David A. Sullivan, PhD, in collaboration with colleagues from several institutions worldwide, evaluated the use of recombinant human lubricin – a glycoprotein with lubricating, anti-adhesive and anti-inflammatory activities – as a treatment for patients with dry eye disease...

Boston, Mass. —  Researchers at Massachusetts Eye and Ear have discovered a new mutation in a highly antibiotic-resistant strain of E. coli that resists clearance by the body’s own immune system by inhibiting white blood cells that ordinarily kill and remove bacteria. In a paper published online today in JAMA Ophthalmology, the researchers describe the case that led them to...

Findings published in the American Journal of Pathology offer new directions for treatment of patients with Fuchs’ Endothelial Corneal Dystrophy (FECD)

Boston, Mass. —  Researchers from Massachusetts Eye and Ear have, for the first time, identified rapidly proliferating cells (known as “neural crest-derived progenitor cells”) in the corneal endothelium of specimens from normal corneas and from corneas with Fuchs’ Endothelial Corneal Dystrophy (FECD), a condition in which the cells responsible for keeping the cornea...

• The strategic licensing agreement between Lonza and Massachusetts Eye and Ear® underscores Lonza’s position as a leading AAV manufacturing service provider and offers customers unprecedented technology and services to commercialize next generation gene therapies.
• The Anc-AAV vector platform has the potential to overcome pre-existing immunity in order to treat more patients compared with other viral vectors currently in development.
• Anc80, the lead novel Anc-AAV available for sublicensing, is a potent gene therapy vector capable of superior gene expression levels in...

A contact lens designed to deliver medication gradually to the eye may improve outcomes for patients who struggle with imprecise, difficult to self-administer eye drops

Boston, Mass. — A contact lens designed to deliver medication gradually to the eye could improve outcomes for patients with conditions requiring treatment with eye drops, which are often imprecise and difficult to self-administer. In...

New findings may stimulate the development of targeted therapies for proptosis in patients with acute thyroid eye disease

Boston, Mass. —  Researchers from Mass. Eye and Ear - including Schepens Eye Research Institute - and ...

Faculty Awards

Joseph Arboleda-Velasquez, MD, PhD, and co-PI, Leo Kim, MD, PhD, received a Department of Defense grant in the amount of $1,499,592 over three years, for their project, "Testing the Preclinical Efficacy of Therapies for Proliferative Vitreoretinopathy." They are collaborating on this project with ...