A study for new treatments for wet age-related macular degeneration (AMD)

A University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health scientist, Dr Nader Sheibani, is spearheading a study of new treatments for wet age-related macular degeneration (AMD). Dr. Sheibani, a professor in the department of ophthalmology and visual sciences, was awarded $6.2 million over five years from the National Eye Institute. In the first year, the collaborators will receive $1.2 million.

The project is a collaboration among Dr. Sheibani’s lab and others in the department of ophthalmology and visual sciences; researchers in the UW department of pediatrics; scientists at Northwestern University Center for Developmental Therapeutics and Feinberg School of Medicine; and the University of Nebraska Center for Drug Delivery and Nanomedicine. Each specialist and team brings different skills and techniques to the question of treatment of exudative AMD.

Wet or exudative AMD is the leading cause of blindness among aging Americans. The global rate of AMD is expected to double in the next decade as the population ages.  A cause of vision loss in this type of AMD is associated with angiogenesis, the growth of new blood vessels which are leaky with severe consequences to vision.

Ophthalmologists have developed treatments known as anti-vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) to slow or stop new vessels from forming. The anti-VEGF treatments require frequent injections into the eye. They are an important tool for ophthalmologists to help save vision and their use has demonstrated that inhibiting VEGF slows damage from AMD. However, VEGF is essential for normal ocular integrity and function. Therefore, there is a great need for new treatments which preserve vision without interfering with normal functions.

Dr. Sheibani and his collaborators hope to develop treatments using small peptides that mimic those of the body’s own inhibitors of angiogenesis. These treatments will counter VEGF activity and inhibit vascular growth in eyes with exudative AMD while providing an environment resistant to new vessel growth. 

This study will develop peptide mimetics – shorter versions of the proteins the body makes – that will stop vessel growth. Researchers at Northwestern University are developing the peptides and those at the University of Nebraska are developing the drug delivery nanotechnology. Dr. Sheibani and his staff will test whether the treatments work in preclinical models of the disease for its translation to humans.

The hope is that this class of drugs, because they mimic the body’s own defenses, will be more effective and have fewer side effects than the treatments already available. Although human clinical trials are years away, this research is truly translational, with the potential to greatly impact quality of life by preventing a common cause of vision loss.

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Mum with ROP manages with a guide dog

Wendy Wright thought she was exceedingly clumsy in her early adulthood. The 49-year-old has managed her condition, known as Retinopathy of Prematurity (ROP), for decades, but now has a new-found freedom thanks to guide dog, Freya.

The mum of five has no peripheral vision, a result of her premature birth.

Ms Wright has had Freya (3) for six months and said it was “amazing” how much of a difference the dog had made to her life.

Freya and Ms Wright graduated as a guide dog team on Tuesday.

from www.inmycommunity.com.au

Ms Wright, manager of the |Needle and Syringe Exchange Program, commutes to work in the Perth CBD by public transport with Freya every morning.

“I can walk down the street, turn my head and look into a shop window without walking into the back of someone, if there’s a person there Freya will guide me around them,” she said.

“I had so much trouble using a white cane, I’d walk into people with their iPod headphones in and they’d get annoyed.

“She’s also taken it upon herself to be my companion, which I didn’t expect, I had some very bad news recently and she didn’t leave my side – that bond after six months just amazes me.”

In 2013 the Association for the Blind, which runs Guide Dogs WA, celebrates 100 years of service to the WA community.

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Being the person, not the 'blind' person...

"...The accompanist’s rapidly moving hands on the keyboard spark curiosity about the source of the prominent piano line. But curiosity may linger for those that notice he is not using sheet music. The pianist is Shane Dittmar, a freshman music education major, accompanying the Department of Performing Arts’ production “It Gets Better” last October. For more than four hours, Dittmar played an entirely memorized piano part in the back-to-back productions." from The Pendulum, Elon University's Student News Organization And for 18 years, Dittmar has been living with a disability. Dittmar is blind. Diagnosed with a genetic disease called Leber Congenital Amaurosis (LCA), Dittmar and his twin brother Derek have been blind since birth. Just like Dittmar had to memorize music measures for “It Gets Better,” he has had to memorize innumerable daily methods in order to adjust to life being blind.

Shane has also been trying out musical theatre.

from The North Raleigh News With a flash of casting instinct from the mind of a high school theater director, Shane Dittmar has claimed his home on stage - the musical theater stage, that is. That's not necessarily an unusual thing for a high school sophomore who is a perfect-pitch tenor with a charismatic personality - punctuated by an enviable wit and outstanding student achievement honors. Difference here: Shane is blind.

Some of Shane's videos...enjoy his voice, his music and his wit!