The candidate proposes a five year mentored clinical scientist research and training plan focused on the application of nanotechnology to the treatment of retinal disease. Dr. Foster is an Ophthalmologist with clinical training in Vitreoretinal surgery as well as a PhD in Physics. His long-term career goal is to combine his clinical interest in retinal diseases with his research interest in bionanotechnology, developing a funded research program investigating the interaction of novel materials with the retina. The research and clinical environment that has been established to achieve this goal is ideally suited to develop the candidate into an independently funded physician-scientist. The candidate proposes a series of experiments related to the goal of developing a photoreceptor prosthesis for patients with retinal degenerations such as retinitis pigmentosa and macular degeneration. There has been a great deal of interest recently in the development of retinal prostheses. Although considerable effort has gone into the development of these devices, the focus has been primarily on engineering considerations, rather than upon obtaining a basic understanding of how these systems interact with neurons. Most of the existing systems rely upon silicon-based detectors and the injection of current into neurons, with resulting ohmic heating and damage. The proposed device relies upon novel materials to achieve capacitive and electric field coupling to retinal neurons. The candidate's hypothesis is that using this technology to develop the proposed prosthesis will overcome the significant limitation of thermal damage, and lead to an improved system. The eventual goal of this research is to test this novel device as a functional retinal prosthesis.
The specific aims of this research proposal are: (1) To develop photoferroelectric devices capable of activating specific neurons. (2) To determine an optimal configuration and size for an array of such devices. (3) To conduct in-vitro evaluation of the resulting devices. ? ?

Agency
National Institute of Health (NIH)
Institute
National Eye Institute (NEI)
Type
Clinical Investigator Award (CIA) (K08)
Project #
5K08EY017112-02
Application #
7186651
Study Section
Special Emphasis Panel (ZEY1-VSN (06))
Program Officer
Mariani, Andrew P
Project Start
2006-03-01
Project End
2011-02-28
Budget Start
2007-03-01
Budget End
2008-02-29
Support Year
2
Fiscal Year
2007
Total Cost
$185,183
Indirect Cost
Name
University of Houston
Department
Physics
Type
Schools of Arts and Sciences
DUNS #
036837920
City
Houston
State
TX
Country
United States
Zip Code
77204
Davis, Joshua T; Foster, William J (2018) Substrate Stiffness Influences the Time Dependence of CTGF Protein Expression in Müller Cells. Int Physiol J 1:1
Boochoon, Kieran S; Manarang, Joseph C; Davis, Joshua T et al. (2014) The influence of substrate elastic modulus on retinal pigment epithelial cell phagocytosis. J Biomech 47:3237-40
Foster, William J; Meen, James K; Fox, Donald A (2013) The effect of physiologic aqueous solutions on the perovskite material lead-lanthanum-zirconium titanate (PLZT): potential retinotoxicity. Cutan Ocul Toxicol 32:18-22
Davis, Joshua T; Wen, Qi; Janmey, Paul A et al. (2012) Muller cell expression of genes implicated in proliferative vitreoretinopathy is influenced by substrate elastic modulus. Invest Ophthalmol Vis Sci 53:3014-9
Foster, William J (2011) Bilateral patching in retinal detachment: fluid mechanics and retinal ""settling"". Invest Ophthalmol Vis Sci 52:5437-40
Foster, William J; Tufail, Waqas; Issa, Amalia M (2010) The quality of pharmacoeconomic evaluations of age-related macular degeneration therapeutics: a systematic review and quantitative appraisal of the evidence. Br J Ophthalmol 94:1118-26
Foster, William Joseph; Dowla, Nadia; Joshi, Saurabh Y et al. (2010) The fluid mechanics of scleral buckling surgery for the repair of retinal detachment. Graefes Arch Clin Exp Ophthalmol 248:31-6
Hacker, M C; Haesslein, A; Ueda, H et al. (2009) Biodegradable fumarate-based drug-delivery systems for ophthalmic applications. J Biomed Mater Res A 88:976-89
Ip, Michael S; Bressler, Susan B; Antoszyk, Andrew N et al. (2008) A randomized trial comparing intravitreal triamcinolone and focal/grid photocoagulation for diabetic macular edema: baseline features. Retina 28:919-30
Diabetic Retinopathy Clinical Research Network (2008) A randomized trial comparing intravitreal triamcinolone acetonide and focal/grid photocoagulation for diabetic macular edema. Ophthalmology 115:1447-9, 1449.e1-10

Showing the most recent 10 out of 13 publications