Contact: Suzanne Day
suzanne_day@meei.harvard.edu
617-573-3897
BOSTON – Magali Saint-Geniez, PhD, has been awarded a Dolly Green Special Scholar Award from Research to Prevent Blindness (RPB) in the amount of $25,000 over two years for her project, "Roles of metabolism, oxidative stress and PGC-1 isoforms in retinal detachment.” The award will help Dr. Saint-Geniez to continue her research on retinal diseases, such as retinal degeneration and the excessive growth of blood vessels in the eye, known as neovascularization.
Dr. Saint-Geniez is an Assistant Scientist at Schepens Eye Research Institute/Massachusetts Eye and Ear and an Assistant Professor of Ophthalmology at Harvard Medical School (HMS). Her research program combines biomaterial engineering and stem cell technology in order to design new methods for transplanting the retinal pigment epithelium in patients with age-related macular degeneration. She also is studying how metabolic genes affect the growth of new blood vessels in the retina. The Dolly Green Special Scholar Award will allow Dr. Saint-Geniez to expand these efforts.
“We are incredibly thankful for this generous support from Research to Prevent Blindness,” said Joan W. Miller, MD, Chief of Ophthalmology at Mass. Eye and Ear and Massachusetts General Hospital, and Chair of Ophthalmology at Harvard Medical School. “This funding will enable Dr. Saint-Geniez to continue to advance our understanding of retinal diseases.”
About Research to Prevent Blindness
RPB is the world’s leading voluntary organization supporting eye research. Since it was founded in 1960, RPB has channeled hundreds of millions of dollars to medical institutions throughout the United States for research into blinding eye diseases. For information on RPB, RPB-funded research, eye disorders and the RPB Grants Program, go towww.rpbusa.org.
About Massachusetts Eye and Ear
Mass. Eye and Ear clinicians and scientists are driven by a mission to find cures for blindness, deafness and diseases of the head and neck. Now united with Schepens Eye Research Institute, Mass. Eye and Ear is the world's largest vision and hearing research center, developing new treatments and cures through discovery and innovation. Mass. Eye and Ear is a Harvard Medical School teaching hospital and trains future medical leaders in ophthalmology and otolaryngology, through residency as well as clinical and research fellowships. Internationally acclaimed since its founding in 1824, Mass. Eye and Ear employs full-time, board-certified physicians who offer high-quality and affordable specialty care that ranges from the routine to the very complex. U.S. News & World Report’s “Best Hospitals Survey” ranked the Mass. Eye and Ear Department of Otolaryngology as number one in the nation this year. For more information about life-changing care and research, or to learn how you can help, please visit MassEyeAndEar.org.