3/2012 - Kenneth P. Mitton, associate professor of
biomedical sciences in the Eye Research Institute, recently received
the
Retinopathy of Prematurity and Related Diseases (ROPARD) Award for two
years for his investigator-initiated research proposal entitled
"Diabetic Live Animal Model in the PRRL for Testing Retinopathy
Interventions."
ROPARD is a Michigan based foundation that supports research into
retinal diseases of children that involved retinal blood vessels. They
include retinopathy of prematurity (ROP), diabetic retinopathy, and the
genetic conditions Norrie's Disease and FEVR (Familial Exudative
Vitreo-Retinopathy). Dr Mitton is a recognized expert in the regulation
of photoreceptor gene expression, contributing to several discoveries of
new genes and the mechanisms that turn genes on in new photoreceptor
cells. These light-detecting cells perish quickly when the microvascular
network of the retina fails.
The ROPARD award will provide OU with its first diabetic research
model, which will also be useful for OU faculty interested in other
organs impacted by juvenile diabetes.
The new ROPARD award will allow Dr Mitton to merge his expertise in
diabetes and gene expression to delve into the earliest molecular
changes driving inflammation. Treatments for diabetic retinopathy only
begin when the disease is visible. Dr Mitton and his clinical
collaborators, Mike Trese, M.D., and Kimberly Drenser M.D. and Ph.D.,
believe that a vicious cycle of inflammation and oxidation damage is
already driving the damage by that point in time, which makes the
condition difficult to halt. Finding the earliest, invisible, molecular
changes is necessary to guide the development of earlier treatments
before the condition is self-perpetuating.
Created by Donna Raymond (raymond@oakland.edu) on Friday, June 8, 2012 Modified by Donna Raymond (raymond@oakland.edu) on Friday, June 8, 2012 Article Start Date: Sunday, April 1, 2012
