Tonia Rex

A ‘Site’ for Sore Eyes

Four years ago, Roger Lasater went outside to look at the stars and the moon and couldn’t see them. He was was in the beginning stages of age-related macular degeneration, one of the many eye diseases studied by physician-scientists at the Vanderbilt Eye Institute.

Gift creates directorship in translational vision research

Marlene and Spencer Hays’ longtime support of the Vanderbilt Eye Institute includes the recent commitment to establish the Marlene & Spencer Hays Directorship in Translational Vision Research.

NEI grants help bolster glaucoma research efforts

Two Vanderbilt Eye Institute (VEI) researchers were recently awarded National Eye Institute (NEI) Audacious Goals Initiative (AGI) for Regenerative Medicine grants for $6.8 million over five years to develop new treatments for optic neuropathies and glaucoma, the leading cause of irreversible blindness.

images from a brain scan

Study seeks new ways to detect sensory issues in TBI patients

Vanderbilt researcher Tonia Rex, Ph.D., is accustomed to performing studies in her lab with a goal of translating the findings into better diagnoses and treatment tools for the visually impaired.

eye

Grant spurs research into trauma-induced vision loss

Tonia Rex, Ph.D., and colleagues at the Vanderbilt Eye Institute are working to uncover how best to treat ocular trauma, the fourth leading cause of blindness worldwide.

Keeping an eye on blast trauma

Understanding the cellular and molecular responses of the eye to blast injury could guide new treatment development.