BrightFocus Foundation Awards BUSM Researchers $450K

Tsuneya Ikezu
Tsuneya Ikezu
Haiyan Gong
Haiyan Gong

Professor of Ophthalmology and Anatomy &  Neurobiology Haiyan Gong, MD, PhD, and  Tsuneya Ikezu, MD, PhD, professor in the departments of Pharmacology & Experimental Therapeutics and Neurology have each received awards from the BrightFocus Foundation.  Gong whose research interests include glaucoma, received a $150,000 grant to study various cellular interactions in the eye’s drainage system using newly developed, advanced 3D electron microscopes. Ikezu was awarded $300,000 for his work on the TREM2 molecule in the search for Alzheimer’s disease treatments.

“BrightFocus is proud to support researchers who are at the forefront of scientific discovery,” said the foundation’s President and CEO Stacy Pagos Haller.   “They are pushing new frontiers of knowledge in their labs and sparking the creativity and innovation that will improve the quality of life for millions around the world.” BrightFocus is a Maryland-based nonprofit that funds research worldwide and provides public awareness for Alzheimer’s, macular degeneration and glaucoma.