Ohio State awarded $1.9 million grant for retinal detachment recovery research

Dr. Colleen Cebulla, associate professor of ophthalmology at The Ohio State University College of Medicine, has been awarded a $1.9 million grant from the Department of Defense for retinal detachment recovery research. Proliferative vitreoretinopathy (PVR) is the most common cause of failure of retinal detachment surgery, occurs frequently after retinal trauma, and there are no effective pharmaceuticals to prevent it. The study is investigating the effects of drugs that target macrophage migration inhibitory factor (MIF), which is produced at high levels in PVR, as well as testing the ability of different clinically relevant MIF inhibitors to block photoreceptor death and abnormal healing. Cebulla and her team, as well as Andy Fischer, PhD, professor of neuroscience, Abhay Satoskar, MD, PhD, professor of pathology, and Julie Racine, PhD, director of visual electrophysiology at Nationwide Children’s Hospital, will look for other clinically-relevant MIF inhibitors to determine if they would potentially be helpful for traumatic retinal detachments that military personnel might experience.