Congratulations to Sidney Gospe III, MD, PhD for receiving the Pilot Research Grant Award for his work on "Reducing neuro-inflammation in a mouse model of mitochondrial optic neuropathy". This award was announced at the annual North American Neuro-ophthalmology Society (NANOS) meeting that took place in Orlando, Florida March 2023.
The NANOS Pilot Research Grant will provide a one-year, non-renewable source of funding to allow Gospe to generate preliminary data that will lead to additional funding from other national agencies or foundations.
The mutant mouse lines he is developing may serve as useful preclinical models to identify and validate therapeutic targets for future human trials. Ultimately, the hope is that strategies to modulate mitochondrial physiology may be neuroprotective not only in primary mitochondrial optic neuropathies but also in other optic neuropathies causing significant visual morbidity in patients.