Dr. Ying Hsu from University of Iowa awarded $90,000 Knights Templar Eye Foundation Grant for Juvenile X-linked Retinoschisis Research

Dr. Ying Hsu from University of Iowa, Iowa City, Iowa was awarded a $90,000 grant entitled: Investigating the Immune Response in Gene Therapy Treatment for Juvenile X-linked Retinoschisis.

Juvenile X-linked retinoschisis is an eye disease that primarily affects male children and causes them to lose vision. In this disease, the connected layers of cells in the eye responsible for forming vision are separated by abnormal, fluid-filled pockets. This is because the function of the RS1 gene is disrupted. This disease can potentially be treated by gene therapy, which involves the delivery of the RS1 gene into the eye using engineered viruses as carriers. However, sometimes, the injections can cause undesirable side effects due to the immune system. Dr. Hsu is investigating the effect of the immune system after treatment in order to better the design of this therapy.