![James W. Golladay Jr., department commander of the Knights Templar Mid-Atlantic Department (left), presents check to Aman George, Ph.D. (center). On the right, Brian P. Brooks, M.D., Ph.D., NEI clinical director, chief of the Pediatric, Developmental, and Genetic Ophthalmology Section, looks on. James Golladay and Aman George hold up grant award check](https://webharvest.gov/congress115th/20190109141147im_/https://nei.nih.gov/sites/default/files/styles/medium/public/KT_check_2018.jpg?itok=xy4pdZNt)
National Eye Institute (NEI) Postdoctoral Fellow Aman George, Ph.D., has received a $65,000 grant from the Knights Templar Eye Foundation to identify new drug treatments for vision impairment in children with a type of albinism. George is a researcher in the NEI Pediatric, Developmental, and Genetic Ophthalmology Section.
From left to right: Spyridon G. Treklas, right eminent grand commander of the Maryland Knights Templar; Golladay; George; Brooks; and John Austin, eminent grand generalissimo of the Maryland Knights Templar.
George has developed a “disease-in-a-dish” model system that replicates the retinal pigment epithelium (RPE), a tissue layer in the back of the eye that supports light-detecting photoreceptors. For people with albinism, who produce little or no pigment, low pigment levels in the RPE lead to vision problems.
One of the most common and severe types of albinism, oculocutaneous albinism, Type 1 (OCA1A), is caused by mutations in a gene crucial for making an enzyme called tyrosinase. Tyrosinase, in turn, is essential for producing pigment. People with OCA1A lack pigment in their skin, hair, and eyes. They typically have low vision that worsens during early childhood due to underdeveloped fovea, an area of the retina important for central vision, and defects in the optic nerve—the bundle of nerve fibers that carries signals from the eye to the brain. Scientists think the RPE may help form the fovea, but they don’t know exactly why or how loss of pigment in the RPE disrupts this process.
Using stem cells derived from the skin cells of patients with OCA1A, George is able to grow pigment-less RPE cells in a dish. With the funds from Knights Templar Eye Foundation, he plans to use these cells to search for drugs that can overcome tyrosinase defects. Ideally, his research will yield a drug to help patients with OCA1A produce RPE pigment, which could help the eye develop normally.
Aman George, Ph.D.
“With this grant from the Knights Templar Eye Foundation, we hope to understand the defects at the molecular level in the RPE cells that contribute to vision defects in people with albinism. We will also perform drug screening to identify molecules that can rescue pigmentation, with the ultimate goal to restore visual function,” said George.
The Knights Templar Eye Foundation is a charity sponsored by the Grand Encampment of the Knights Templar that supports pediatric ophthalmology research. Their career-starter grants are awarded to early-career researchers like George with projects that potentially yield treatments for vision problems in children. This is the second such grant awarded to an NEI trainee in the past three years.
“The Knights Templar are proud to support research like Dr. George’s work on pediatric eye diseases,” said James Golladay, department commander of the Knights Templar Mid-Atlantic Department. “Presenting these awards to young scientists; knowing what kind of difference this grant can make…it doesn’t get any better than that!”
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This press release describes a basic research finding. Basic research increases our understanding of human behavior and biology, which is foundational to advancing new and better ways to prevent, diagnose, and treat disease. Science is an unpredictable and incremental process— each research advance builds on past discoveries, often in unexpected ways. Most clinical advances would not be possible without the knowledge of fundamental basic research.
NEI leads the federal government’s research on the visual system and eye diseases. NEI supports basic and clinical science programs to develop sight-saving treatments and address special needs of people with vision loss. For more information, visit https://www.nei.nih.gov.
About the National Institutes of Health (NIH): NIH, the nation’s medical research agency, includes 27 Institutes and Centers and is a component of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. NIH is the primary federal agency conducting and supporting basic, clinical, and translational medical research, and is investigating the causes, treatments, and cures for both common and rare diseases. For more information about NIH and its programs, visit https://www.nih.gov/.