Does age/stress-induced mitochondrial dysfunction induce variations in RPE phenotype in AMD?
Description: PROJECT NARRATIVE Advanced age and cigarette smoking (CS) are the top non-genetic risk factors for age-related macular degeneration (AMD). The extent that aging and CS drive mitochondrial dysfunction and variable RPE phenotypes is still unclear, representing significant scientific knowledge gap in the field. This proposal will characterize the cellular and molecular features of disease-causing subtypes in RPE cells, including epithelial mesenchymal transition (EMT), senescence, and cell death, and link those with the severity of mitochondrial dysfunction associated with aging and CS in both animal models and human AMD samples.
Funder: National Eye Institute
Funding type: research
Funder scheme: R01
Start date: 2024-03-01
End date: 2028-12-31
Investigator: JAMES T HANDA
Institution: TULANE UNIVERSITY OF LOUISIANA
Funded outputs count: 9
Funder award ID: R01EY035805
OpenAlex ID: G9000905651