FFB Funded Research Grants Approved 2004 - 2005
Operating Grants
David Daniel Eisenstat, M.D., M.A., FRCPC
Department of Ophthalmology, Anatomy and Physiology
University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, Manitoba
DLX homeobox genes in vertebrate retinal development
Awarded: $90,000 for 3 years, July 2004 - June 2007
Young Investigator Awards
Robert Chow, Ph.D.
Department of Biology
University of Victoria, Victoria, British Columbia
Defining the Roles of Vsxl in Retinal Cone Bipolar Cell Development, visual signalling and disease
Awarded: $70,000 for 1 year (in partnership with the E.A. Baker Foundation), July 2004 - June 2005
W.K. Stell Award
Orson Moritz, Ph.D.
Department of Ophthalmology
University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia
In Vivo Analysis of Mechanisms of Cell Death in Inherited Retinal Degeneration
Awarded: $50,000 from 2005-2010 (in partnership with the Michael Smith Foundation for Medical Research)
Postdoctoral Fellowships
Celene Grayson, Ph.D.
Supervisor: Robert Molday
Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia Fatty Acid Elongation Factor Function in Macular Degeneration
Awarded: $35,000 for 2 years, July 2004 - June 2006
Tomoyuki Inoue, M.D., Ph.D.
Supervisor: Derek Van der Kooy
Department of Medical Genetics and Microbiology
University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario
Functional photoreceptors from adult human retinal stem cells
Awarded: $35,000 for 3 years, July 2004 - June 2007
Linda Suzanne Weaving, Ph.D.
Supervisor: Roderick McInnes
Department of Developmental Biology Research
Institute/The Hospital for Sick Children
Identification of the regulatory elements controlling CHX10 expression
Awarded: $35,000 for 3 years, July 2004 - December 2006
Graduate Student Scholarships
Karen Paige Atkinson-Leadbeater
Supervisor: Sarah MacFarlane
Department of Neuroscience
University of Calgary, Calgary, Alberta
Growth Factor Signalling and Generation of Different Retinal Cell Types During Embryogenesis
Awarded: $21,000 for 3 years, July 2004 - June 2008 (no funding in 2007)
Daniella Marie Checchin
Supervisor: Sylvain Chemtob
Department of Pharmacology and Therapeutics
McGill University, Montréal, Québec
Mechanisms for the Involvement of Hypercapnia in Ischemic Proliferative Retinopathy: the Role of Nitric Oxide and Reactive Nitrogen Species
Awarded: $21,000 for 1 year, July 2004 - June 2005
Cynthia Caroline Jung
Supervisor: Roderick McInnes
Department of Molecular and Medical Genetics
The Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, Ontario
Cloning and Characterization of Prz, a Novel Putative Retinal Transcription Factor
Awarded: $21,000 for 3 years, July 2004 - June 2007
Trevor McGill
Supervisor: Glen Prusky
Department of Psychology and Neuroscience
University of Lethbridge, Lethbridge, Alberta
Transportation as a Method of Limiting the Loss of Vision in an Animal Model of Human Blinding Disease
Awarded: $21,000 for 3 years, July 2004 - June 2007
Bupe Rose Mwaikambo
Supervisor: Pierre Hardy and Sylvain Chemtob
Department of Pharmacology and Therapeutics
Hôpital Sainte-Justine, Montréal, Québec
CD36 Scavenger Receptor in Corneal and Chorio-retinal Degeneration and neovascularization
Awarded: $21,000 for 3 years, July 2004 - June 2007
Michael Szego
Supervisor: Roderick McInnes
Department of Molecular and Medical Genetics
The Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, Ontario
A Genomic Approach to Identify Mechanisms Underlying Inherited Photoreceptor Degeneration
Awarded: $21,000 for 2 years, July 2004 - June 2006
Ongoing Grants 2004 - 2005
Operating Grants
N. Torben Bech-Hansen, Ph.D.
Department of Medical Genetics
University of Calgary, Calgary, Alberta
Genetic and Molecular Analysis of Incomplete Congenital Stationary Night Blindness CSNB
Awarded: $90,000 for 3 years
Robert L. Gendron, Ph.D.
Department of Basic Medical Sciences
Memorial University of Newfoundland
St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador
Tubedown-1 as a Modulator of Choroid-Retinal Angiogenesis
Awarded: $30,000 for 3 years
Elise Héon, M.D.
Department of Ophthalmology
University of Toronto/The Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, Ontario
Redefining Bardet-Biedl Syndrome in an Ethnically Diverse Canadian Population
Awarded: $92,500 for 3 years
Jim Hu, Ph.D.
Departments of Paediatrics, and Laboratory Medicine and Pathology
The Hospital for Sick Children Research Institute, Toronto, Ontario
The Mechanism for Mutations in HPRP3 Leading to Retinitis Pigmentosa
Awarded: $82,000 for 2 years, July 2003 – June 2005
Robert K. Koenekoop, M.D., Ph.D.
Department of Ophthalmology
McGill University/Montreal Children's Hospital, Montreal, Quebec
Molecular Studies of Leber Congenital Amaurosis: A Childhood Blindness and a Model for Retinal Development
Awarded: $85,000 for 3 years, July 2002 - June 2005
Paul Wong, Ph.D.
Department of Biological Sciences
University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta
Defining the genetics of three different macular degenerative disorders
Awarded: $60,000 for 2 years
Partnership with the Stem Cell Network
Primary Investigator: Valerie Wallace, Departments of Biology, Microbiology and Immunology, University of Ottawa
Derek Van der Kooy, University of Toronto
C. May Griffith, University of Ottawa
Roderick R. McInnes, University of Toronto
Michael Rudnicki, University of Ottawa
David Carlsson, NRC
Chris Lohman, University of Ottawa
FFB/Stem Cell Network Partnership was established in 2003 to support fellowships and operating grants over several years in biomedical research and therapeutic applications relevant to retinal degenerative diseases. The FFB matches funds provided by the Stem Cell Network (SCN). The applications are reviewed and funded through the SCN’s Scientific Advisory Board. For more information, please visit: www.stemcellnetwork.ca.
Eye Stem Cells Biology and Therapeutic Applications
Awarded: $105,000 for 2 years, July 2003 – June 2005
The identification of adult retinal stem cells holds great promise for the development of new therapies to treat or prevent blindness. To use these cells safely and effectively, we need to understand more about how these cells grow and how they can be coaxed to produce the types of cells needed for transplantation, for example cone and rod photoreceptors. Dr. Wallace and her collaborators have made significant progress towards understanding how RSC and photoreceptors develop. They have identified one signaling pathway that is required for the development of the part of the eye that gives rise to RSC in the adult and another pathway that helps the retina balance the number of photoreceptors that it generates. In the long term these findings will aid in the development of methods to induce RSC and photoreceptors from patient tissues for the benefit of patients with retinal degeneration.
An analysis of regulatory gene expression in the developing retina and adult ciliary margin, where RSCs are located, helped her team to identify the genetic cascades that determine pluripotency (the potential for forming many kinds of cells – essential for reconstituting functional retina) and possibly the ability of human RSCs to form functional photoreceptors.
The data were published: 39. Liu, H., Xu, S., Wang Y., Mazerolle, C., Thurig, S., Coles, B. L. K., Ren, J.-C., van der Kooy, D., and Wallace, V. A. 2007. Ciliary margin transdifferentiation from neural retina is controlled by canonical Wnt signaling. Dev Biol 308:54-67.
Postdoctoral Fellowships
James S. Friedman, Ph.D.
Supervisor: Anand Swaroop
Department of Ophthalmology & Visual Science
University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan
Functional Analysis of Nrl: A Rod Photoreceptor Specific Transcription Factor
Awarded: 35,000 for 2 years
Graduate Student Scholarships
Jessica Blaker
Supervisor: N.T. Bech-Hansen
Department of Medical Genetics
University of Calgary, Calgary, Alberta
Identification of proteins that interact with nyctalopin
Awarded: $21,000 for 3 years
Keong-Jian Kang
Supervisor: Paul P.M. Schnetkamp
Department of Biophysics & Physiology
University of Calgary, Calgary, Alberta
Structure and Function of retinal rod and cone Na/Ca-K exchangers
Awarded: $ 21,000 for 3 years
Hong Liu
Supervisor: Valerie Wallace
Department of Molecular Medicine
Ottawa Hospital Research Institute
University of Ottawa, Ottawa, Ontario
The Role of the Wnt Signalling Pathway in Mammalian Retinal Development
Awarded: $21,000 for 2 years, July 2003 – June 2005
Dino Petrin
Department of and Biochemistry, Microbiology and Immunology
University of Ottawa Eye Institute, Ottawa, Ontario
Gene Therapy of Retinitis Pigmentosa Using an Adeno-Associated Virus Encoding the X-Linked Inhibitor of Apoptosis
Awarded: $21,000 for 3 years, July 2001 – June 2004