Research to Prevent Blindness (RPB) recently awarded a $110,000 grant to Vanderbilt’s Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences in support of research into the causes, treatment and prevention of blinding diseases.

Vanderbilt University Medical Center has been chosen as one of 12 sites in the United States to offer the first FDA-approved bionic eye for the treatment of retinitis pigmentosa (RP).

Glaucoma-causing mutations in the gene for myocilin reduce secretion of the protein into the aqueous humor, suggesting a new option for treatment.

John Penn, Ph.D., vice chair of the Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences at Vanderbilt, is seeking to change the way retinopathy of prematurity (ROP), the leading cause of childhood blindness worldwide, is treated.

Winter may be slowly giving way to spring, but the remaining cold days of the season can cause plenty of trouble for the eyes—trouble that is largely avoidable, says a Vanderbilt Eye Institute ophthalmologist.

Tonia Rex, Ph.D., assistant professor of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences at the Vanderbilt Eye Institute, was recently named one of 10 winners of the National Institutes of Health competition for ideas on the future of vision research.