Professor gets $1.8 million for glaucoma research

Posted: Wednesday, April 11, 2012 8:00 pm

MEMPHIS (AP) — A professor at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center has received a $1.8 million grant from the National Eye Institute to fund research on glaucoma.
Tonia Rex, assistant professor in the Departments of Ophthalmology and Anatomy and Neurobiology, said she was excited to perform the research geared toward providing insights into the disease and the development of treatments.
The university said in a news release on Monday that the primary goal of the research is to treat glaucoma using systemic neuroprotective gene therapy. Nearly 3 million people have been diagnosed with glaucoma, a leading cause of blindness in the United States.
Published in The Messenger 4.11.12