Thomas A. Ferguson, PhD, a professor of ophthalmology and visual sciences, has received a Research to Prevent Blindness Stein Innovation Award. Ferguson is an internationally recognized expert on the role of autophagy — the natural, regulated mechanism that helps cells remove unnecessary or malfunctioning components — in the development of eye diseases, such as age-related macular degeneration.
Ferguson is one of 37 researchers worldwide to have received the award since it was instituted in 2014 to provide flexible funding to scientists engaged in research aimed at understanding the visual system and the diseases that compromise its function. The award will provide the lab with $300,000 over the next three years.
Research to Prevent Blindness also has awarded the John F. Hardesty, MD, Department of Ophthalmology & Visual Sciences and unrestricted grant totaling $115,000 a year to support vision research.
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