Moran Clinician and Researcher Dr. Bala Ambati Receives Research to Prevent Blindness Award

Salt Lake City, Utah
February 17, 2009

Salt Lake City, Utah, January 27, 2009. Dr. Bala Ambati was recently award a Research to Prevent Blindness (RPB) physician-scientist award. This award is given to strengthen and promote clinical and/or basic research done by clinicians in RPB Grantee ophthalmology departments. Three to five $60K grants are awarded nationally each fall, offering support for early or mid-career MDs holding primary positions as Assistant Professors through full Professors in ophthalmology departments. The award is given to ophthalmologists who are nationally recognized in their subspecialty and actively engaged in research.

Researchers at the John A. Moran Eye Center have been generously awarded many grants from RPB which have been motivating and helpful in carrying on our research. RPB provides major eye research funding to more than 50 leading scientific institutions in the U.S. and supports the work of hundreds of talented vision scientists engaged in a diverse range of disease-oriented research.

Research to Prevent Blindness (RPB) is the leading voluntary health organization supporting eye research directed at the prevention, treatment or eradication of all diseases that threaten vision. RPB has committed hundreds of millions of dollars in grant support to provide scientific manpower, technological equipment and eye research laboratory facilities.

As a physician-investigator, Dr. Ambati is experienced in cornea transplants, cataract extraction, keratoprosthesis (artificial cornea), LASIK, and other complex procedures of the cornea and anterior segment of the eye.

Dr. Ambati devotes a significant portion of his time to research endeavors investigating the molecular mechanisms of angiogenesis, the growth of new blood vessels, in the cornea. His laboratory group has solved the long-outstanding mystery of what keeps the cornea normally free of blood vessels, identifying the protein sVEGFR-1 as the prime mediator of this essential requirement for clear vision. His team has applied this knowledge in developing novel inhibitors targeting the key mediator of angiogenesis, VEGF, specifically sequestering this linchpin molecule within cells, complementing the existing anti-VEGF arsenal.

Dr. Ambati is building collaborative research programs within Moran and on-campus with a view towards continued development of anti-angiogenic agents, understanding the mechanisms of alternative splicing controlling sVEGFR-1, and advancing drug delivery to the eye. Dr. Ambati's laboratory published a key paper in Nature in 2006 defining the basis of the cornea's natural avascularity, which was selected as a 2006 Signaling Breakthrough of the Year by Science.

With respect to clinical research, Dr. Ambati is committed to constant analysis of results of cornea transplants, LASIK, cataract extraction, and other anterior segment procedures with a view towards optimization of patient outcomes.

For more information about Dr. Ambati or the John A. Moran Eye Center contact Moran Communications Manager Steven Brown at steven.brown@hsc.utah.edu, or phone 801.587.7693.

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