PhD Proposal Presentation: Brandon Gerberich

Date: Thursday, March 30

Time: 9:30 AM

Location: Whitaker Building, McIntire Conference Room (3115)

Committee Members:

Mark Prausnitz (Advisor, BME)

C. Ross Ethier (BME)

Machelle Pardue (BME)

M.G. Finn (Chemistry/Biochemistry)

Anastasios Costarides (Emory Eye Center)

Title:

Treatment of Glaucoma by Scleral Collagen Crosslinking

Abstract:

Glaucoma affects an estimated 3 million individuals in the United States with approximately 120,000 of these individuals experiencing blindness. Disruption of fluid inflow/outflow in the front of the eye is a hallmark of glaucoma resulting in elevated intraocular pressure. Elevated pressure in turn damages the optic nerve which is responsible for conduction of visual information from the retina to the brain. Damage is believed to be mediated through pressure-induced stresses in the surrounding collagenous scleral tissue. Therefore, current treatments aim to lower the intraocular pressure, thus reducing mechanical stress on the optic nerve. However, many patients progress towards vision loss despite pressure-lowering treatment.

A novel glaucoma treatment is proposed to directly protect the optic nerve against pressure-induced mechanical stress by crosslinking the surrounding scleral collagen. Inducing crosslinking selectively near the optic nerve presents drug delivery challenges. Not only is the optic nerve difficult to access, but the eye has notoriously efficient clearance mechanisms. Furthermore, collagen crosslinking mechanisms are often cytotoxic and therefore must be confined to the sclera to prevent collateral retina/nerve damage. The proposed treatment aims to overcome these challenges using a combination of drug delivery techniques to demonstrate an ameliorative effect including vision preservation in glaucomatous rats.