Kirsch Foundation Annual Report 2002-2003/Contents

The Issue:
Catalyst for a Cure (CFC), the funding partnership started in June 2001 between the Kirsch Foundation and the Glaucoma Research Foundation (GRF), was established to identify the cause of glaucoma and to speed progress toward discovering a cure. CFC includes four participating investigators, from different research institutions and research specialties, and their labs. While the investigators made progress during the first several months, it became clear by late 2002 that they would need to use a rodent model of glaucoma to perform some key experiments. Although there was an existing model and colony, the developer charged a significant fee and could not guarantee a reliable supply. These issues could hinder the timeliness of the group’s research effort and might also impede future researchers.

Action:
The Foundation, along with GRF, immediately made a supplemental $110,000-plus grant to establish a mouse colony specifically for the research conducted by the investigators. One of the researchers agreed to manage the colony and to provide it to other investigators in the future.

As of June 2003:
• The investigators identified four key targets for their research, taking advantage of their various areas of expertise:

– Study the body’s innate repair response to glaucoma in order to determine if stem cells found in the eye can be manipulated to improve the repair process and thus slow down the disease;
– Screen for molecular changes during glaucoma progression;
– Identify new genes that are uniquely found in retinal ganglion cells that progressively die in the glaucoma patient; and
– Analyze the interaction between retinal ganglion cells and their surrounding support cells.

• The mouse colony was established in February 2003; it contained 120 mice by the end of June. Since it takes 7-8 months for the mice to show evidence of the disease, experiments were to begin in October 2003.