Michael Robichaux, an assistant professor in WVU’s Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences, conducts research in the visual-sciences COBRE lab. A recent $11 million COBRE grant from NIH will enable WVU to recruit researchers and clinicians who want to prevent, treat and slow the progression of vision problems. Photo courtesy of WVU Photo/Zane Lacko 
MORGANTOWN, W.Va.—With a new $11 million grant from the National Institutes of Health, West Virginia University has become just the second university in the country to receive funding for a visual-sciences Center of Biomedical Research Excellence (COBRE). The COBRE grant will help WVU develop innovative ways to prevent, treat and slow the progression of vision problems that are currently incurable, according to an announcement from the university. That’s especially important for West Virginia, which has the second-highest rate of visual disability in the U.S.

“My goal is to use this funding mechanism to propel WVU and vision sciences in reducing visual disparities in our state,” said Visvanathan Ramamurthy, the COBRE’s principal investigator. “West Virginia has the second highest rate of visual disability in the whole country. By ‘visual disability,’ I mean something that you cannot treat with corrective glasses.”
 
The COBRE will help WVU recruit researchers and clinician-scientists who can work together to develop innovative ways to prevent, treat and slow the progression of vision problems and blinding eye disease that are currently incurable. The project leaders who get COBRE support will receive three years of mentorship from senior scientists and experts around the country, who will mentor them toward independence.
 
Undergraduate students will benefit from this NIGMS investment, as well. Eight of them will participate in a vision science research program each summer and be exposed to breakthrough science focused on understanding the mechanisms behind blinding diseases.
 
Watch a video about the new center.