If you have early or intermediate age-related macular degeneration (AMD) and are between 55 and 80 years old, you can help advance science for your condition and be compensated for your participation.
AMD is the leading cause of blindness in the elderly in the developed world; no cure exists, and prevalence is rising rapidly, shared Ethan Rossi, PhD, whose lab — the Rossi Lab — is conducting the research study. Though Anti-VEGF revolutionized neovascular AMD treatment, options remain limited for non-neovascular AMD that accounts for 90% of cases.
The project aims to provide foundational knowledge towards detecting AMD earlier and is producing new tools to monitor retinal cells that will facilitate the development and testing of preventative therapies to slow or prevent vision loss in AMD.
“Understanding how ocular conditions alter the structure of the retina at the level of single cells is critically important, but we must also understand how these changes alter visual function,” said Valerie Snyder, Ophthalmic Imaging Specialist/Research Coordinator with the Rossi Lab. “So, we deploy tools to test the function of the retina and visual system to correlate the structural changes we can detect with changes in a patient’s vision. This study is using both commercial and custom-built imaging tools, specifically a custom-built Adaptive Optics Ophthalmoscope (adaptive optics scanning laser ophthalmoscope). We are also imaging the morphological changes that occur in normal healthy aging, so we can understand better the changes on the path to AMD. With the use of AO, we are able to obtain high-resolution images down to the scale of a single cell, which should allow us to detect changes earlier than other technologies.”
Grant funding was received in June 2020, but due to COVID, enrollment could not start until May 2021. The project will end May 2025. This arm of the study aims to enroll 42 early AMD participants, and to date there are only 16.
The study involves providing a health history, undergoing an eye exam and optional blood draw, and having eyes imaged. There are up to three visits lasting five hours total, and all will take place within 10 days. Participants must not be diagnosed with wet or advanced macular degeneration, nystagmus, diabetic retinopathy, and/or other macular diseases. Compensation is $25 per completed visit, so the total is potentially $75, with free parking at each visit.
When the project is done, the lab will be able to show how the cells in the eye change over the course of natural aging eye from 18-80, and what changes are associated with the divergence of normal aging to AMD.
Register for the study here.