By Laura Angus, media relations assistant

Andrew Goldberg, Eye Research Institute associate professor, received a three-year, $245,000 research award from the E. Matilda Zeigler Foundation for the Blind, to support his studies of photoreceptor architecture and genetic retinal disease.

“We’re extremely grateful to the E. Matilda Zeigler Foundation for acknowledging our important past and current contributions,” Goldberg said. “This investment means we can build upon those successes to spark even greater scientific accomplishments in the future.”

His research involves genes and proteins that are important for rod and cone photoreceptor structure, and have been identified as causing progressive retinal dystrophies like retinitis pigmentosa and macular degenerations. Both age-related and inherited forms of these diseases cause debilitating loss of vision, due to photoreceptor cell death and subsequent retinal deterioration.

Goldberg and his team have been investigating the genes and proteins required to maintain rod and cone photoreceptor structure and viability.

“It’s hard to fix what you don’t understand,” Goldberg said. “Developing an accurate picture of how our rods and cones function and age can make a profound difference for those suffering from these debilitating diseases.”