Scientists at the WIVR recently published a manuscript in the high impact journal, Progress in Retinal and Eye Research, titled "Complement activation and choriocapillaris loss in early AMD: Implications for pathophysiology and therapy." LINK This manuscript reviews new data showing vascular loss as a very early event in age-related macular degeneration, proposes a hypothesis for how genetic risk factors lead to AMD, and discusses the implications of this model on the development of new therapies.

Lazier Partners Racing has chosen to bring awareness to the University of Iowa’s Stephen A Wynn Institute for Vision Research [Press release; Buddy's Drive for the Cure]. Buddy Lazier, the 1996 Indianapolis 500 winner and 2000 Verizon IndyCar Series champion, will drive the No. 91 University of Iowa Stephen A. Wynn Institute for Vision Research car in the 2014 Indianapolis 500.

In this study, state of the art sequencing technologies were used to identify disease-causing mutations in the USH2A gene in an adult patient with autosomal recessive Retinitis Pigmentosa. Induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs), generated from the patient's skin, were differentiated into multi-layer eyecup-like structures with features of human retinal cells. The inner layer of the eyecups contained immature photoreceptor cells that expressed photoreceptor markers and exhibited cilia and basal bodies characteristic of outer segments.

Mutations in ABCA4 cause Stargardt disease and other blinding autosomal recessive retinal disorders. However, sequencing of the complete coding sequence in patients with clinical features of Stargardt disease sometimes fails to detect one or both mutations. For example, among 208 individuals with clear clinical evidence of ABCA4 disease ascertained at a single institution, 28 had only one disease-causing allele identified in the exons and splice junctions of the primary retinal transcript of the gene.