By providing a better understanding of sight-threatening diseases, such as age-related macular degeneration, diabetic retinopathy, and glaucoma, eye and vision research ultimately leads to sight-preserving treatments, reduces visual impairment, and improves the quality of life for people of all ages. The UB Department of Ophthalmology is committed to excellence in research, medical education, and health care, as exemplified by our laboratory research, residency training, and clinical practice programs. Clinician-scientists and basic researchers at the Ross Eye Institute actively search for the causes, preventive measures and most effective treatments for diseases and disorders of the eye. Our goal is to foster the development of major advances in medical research and translate those advances directly into enhanced patient care. We constantly seek to build upon today's knowledge and maintain our reputation as a preeminent research institution.
Current areas of research include the following:
- hereditary retinal degenerations
- gene therapy for ocular diseases
- defects in lipid metabolism with associated retinal diseases
- regulation of gene expression during retinal development
- retinoid binding proteins and visual cycle biochemistry
- corneal physiology and cell biology
- stem cell biology and therapeutic applications
- bioinformatics and proteomics
- biocompatible materials for ophthalmic applications
Funding for these research projects is provided by grants from the National Institutes of Health (National Eye Institute), the Veterans Administration, private foundations, and pharmaceutical companies. We are proud to acknowledge an Unrestricted Grant from Research to Prevent Blindness, which provides ongoing programmatic support for our research and scientific educational missions.
Laboratory research is conducted under the auspices of the Ross Eye Institute Vision Research Center. With laboratories housed both at the Buffalo VA Medical Center and the New York State Center of Excellence in Bioinformatics and Life Sciences, our multidisciplinary research programs cover a broad spectrum of investigations, from the most fundamental understanding of the nature of molecules, cells and tissues, all the way to the development of novel therapies and ophthalmic devices with clinical applications.
Building on our tradition of excellence, we are currently implementing a major effort to develop and expand the Ross Eye Institute Vision Research Center's existing research units and core capabilities. Our researchers collaborate with scientists from over a dozen other universities, as well as private research institutes and pharmaceutical companies, both domestic and international. We also participate in the SUNY Eye Institute (http://sunyeye.org/), a SUNY-wide eye research consortium represented by the four SUNY medical centers and the College of Optometry.
For more information about our specific research programs, please see the individual investigators’ links. We welcome new ideas and new collaborations.
Sincerely,
Steven J. Fliesler, PhD
Vice-Chairman of Ophthalmology and
Director of Research, Ross Eye Institute
Vision Research Center