Pre-ARVO RCGT Meeting
May 22, 2019Drs. Eric Pierce and Jason Comander presented at the 6th annual Retinal Cell and Gene Therapy Innovation Summit in Vancouver, British Columbia, on Friday, April 26, 2019, prior to the 2019 annual meeting of the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology (ARVO). The summit is one of the most comprehensive reviews of ongoing and planned... Read More
2018 Genentech AMD Translational Research Fellowship recipient: Chari Fernandez-Godino, PhD
April 29, 2019Chari Fernandez-Godino has been awarded a fellowship from the ARVO foundation to support her research on AMD. The award ceremony took place at ARVO 2019. Project titleTargeting complement activation via tick-over: a prophylactic treatment for dry AMD About Dr. Fernandez-Godino's projectAs many as 11 million people in the US has some form... Read More
Janey L. Wiggs, MD, PhD, receives ARVO Dr. David L. Epstein Award
May 9, 2018Janey L. Wiggs, MD, PhD, Paul Austin Chandler Professor of Ophthalmology at Harvard Medical School, Associate Chief of Ophthalmology Clinical Research and Associate Director of the Howe Laboratory at Massachusetts Eye and Ear, is the 2018 recipient of the Dr.... Read More
XVIIIth International Symposium on Retinal Degeneration
April 19, 2018The XVIIIth International Symposium on Retinal Degeneration will be held in Killarney Ireland September 3rd - 8th 2018. Please visit the meeting website for details; http://www.rdmeeting.net Travel awards are offered.
Mass. Eye and Ear performs first FDA-approved gene therapy procedure for inherited disease
March 20, 2018Massachusetts Eye and Ear made medical history on Tuesday by performing the first post-FDA approval gene therapy for patients with a form of inherited blindness. The occasion marks the beginning of a new era in medicine, as it is the first time any FDA-approved gene therapy has been given to a patient for any inherited disease. The treatment,... Read More
National School Walkout
March 20, 2018Some members of the OGI (including Dr. Pierce who served as the photographer) were able to join the National School Walkout this morning to remember victims of gun violence and support more stringent gun controls.
CRISPR trick in mice points the way to possible treatments for inherited diseases
March 8, 2018With the power of the genome-editing tool CRISPR on display, scientists around the world have been hard at work in recent years — developing CRISPR-based therapies that may one day edit disease-causing mutations in our DNA for the treatment of inherited disorders. But there are still great challenges with this powerful tool, and... Read More
Ocular Genomics Institute researchers find a connection between changes in the extracellular matrix of Bruch’s membrane and the activation of the Alternative Complement Pathway in Macular Degeneration.
November 3, 2017In a study published online this week in the Human Molecular Genetics journal, Drs. Rosario Fernandez-Godino, Dr. Kinga M. Bujakowska, and Dr. Eric Pierce of the Ocular Genomics Institute at the Massachusetts Eye and Ear, Harvard Medical School reported the remarkable finding that the formation of basal deposits in macular degeneration is... Read More
New RO1 grant for Drs. Bujakowska and Pierce
November 3, 2017Drs. Bujakowska and Pierce are happy to have received a new RO1 grant for the project: Genetic Causes and Genetic Modifiers of Inherited Retinal Degenerations. Inherited retinal degenerations (IRDs) are a genetically heterogeneous group of disorders that are important causes of vision loss. The goals of the proposed research are to improve... Read More
Editas Medicine Initiates Clinical Natural History Study to Evaluate Patients with Leber Congenital Amaurosis Type 10 (LCA10)
September 21, 2017Massachusetts Eye and Ear named as first site for the study CAMBRIDGE, Mass., Sept. 12, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Editas Medicine, Inc. (NASDAQ:EDIT), a leading genome editing company, today announced that the Company initiated a clinical natural history study of Leber Congenital Amaurosis type 10 (LCA10). LCA10 is caused by mutations... Read More
Young New Zealander Visits the OGI
May 1, 2017Louis Corbett, front left, learns the latest in eye research from Dr. Luk Vandenberghe. Louis Corbett, 12, is losing his vision due to Retinitis Pigmentosa, an inherited retinal degeneration that also affects his older brother. His parents decided to take him on a “bucket-list” tour so he could see the world before his vision is permanently... Read More