$25mil Translational and Clinical Research Grant over 5 years, by National Research Foundation.
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Lead Principal Investigator:
Co-Lead Principal Investigator:
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Principal Investigator(s):
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Contact Details:
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Ms Sharmila Kannan
Assistant Director,
Corporate Affairs & Research Administration |
| Tel |
: 6322 4590 |
| Fax |
: 6323 1903 |
| Email |
: sharmila.kannan@seri.com.sg | |
Address :
Singapore Eye Research Institute (SERI)
c/o Singapore National Eye Centre
11 Third Hospital Avenue
Singapore 168751
Website : http://www.seri.com.sg/ |
Translational Research Innovations in Ocular Surgery (TRIOS) Programme by Singapore Eye Research Institute (SERI)
Corneal disease is the second commonest cause of treatable blindness (12 million cases globally) and glaucoma is a leading cause of irreversible blindness world-wide. An estimated 70 million people are affected, of whom over 6 million suffer from bilateral blindness. In Singapore, glaucoma is the leading cause of irreversible blindness. Primary angle closure glaucoma, which is more prevalent in Asia compared to primary open angle glaucoma, accounts for most of the blindness caused by glaucoma. Corneal diseases related to eye infections, inflammation, ocular trauma and genetic disorders are the major causes of blindness requiring corneal transplantation. Despite being a successful procedure, current surgical outcomes are limited due to long-term graft failure and rejection, resulting in increased morbidity.
Damaged optic nerve from Glaucoma |
Whilst both glaucoma and corneal disorders may be initially treated by medical therapy (e.g. eye drops), surgery is often necessary at some stage to prevent or delay disease progression and blindness. The long-term success of glaucoma filtration surgery and corneal transplantation surgery largely hinges on the post-operative wound healing response and its modulation. Asian eyes have a greater propensity to scar compared to Caucasian eyes. Hence the major emphasis of our TCR program focuses on developing a raft of innovative treatments to modulate wound healing in the form of drugs, lasers, novel surgical techniques and devices for the management of glaucoma and corneal diseases. These emerging new therapies are expected to greatly improve treatment outcomes.
Furthermore, the application of novel anti-fibrotic agents would also have far-reaching implications for wound healing and surgeries in many other medical and surgical disciplines beyond ophthalmology.
Specific objectives of TRIOS include the development of new wound healing drugs, novel anti-microbial peptides that possess low risk of drug resistance, new and more effective, sustained release drug delivery technology, innovative ultra-high resolution imaging devices for imaging ocular structures, advanced laser-assisted corneal transplantation surgery, clinical trials and genetic studies into the study of alternate therapy for treatment of primary angle closure glaucoma and identification of new genes in angle closure glaucoma.
Potential to Improve Healthcare:
- Addresses 2 major causes of global blindness
- Aims to deliver new therapies of high clinical impact in corneal diseases & glaucoma.
- Develop fundamental therapeutic approaches to tackle wound healing
The TRIOS Programme encompasses a total of 5 discrete but interlinked major modules:
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Scarred cornea from infection |
Ocular Wound Healing - for glaucoma surgery and corneal surgery, including LASIK - 3 subprojects on a) new drug treatments (transglutaminase-related targets) to modulate and control wound healing in the eye after surgery, b) new defensin drugs to treat inflammation and infection in the eye, and c) new drug delivery systems to deliver these drugs into specific parts of the eye
- Development of new biological tissue glue for many forms eye surgery (as an alternative to sutures in the eye)
- Development of new ultra-high resolution imaging technologies for the front of the eye with the potential to image wound healing at the cellular level
- Development of advanced techniques in corneal transplantation surgeries using femtosecond lasers, and to develop novel stem cell corneal endothelial transplantation methods
- Extensive programme in clinical research strategies relating to primary angle closure glaucoma - development of imaging devices to screen for glaucoma, a clinical trial studying the prevention of optic nerve damage (neuroprotection) in acute angle closure glaucoma, and a study to identify Asian genes for glaucoma.
The TRIOS Roadmap
This TRIOS approach is well-represented by the above "TRIOS Roadmap" diagram, which depicts the clinical challenges that has to be solved, our sequential vertical approach involving translational and clinical projects targeted at solving these challenges, to the final clinically applicable outcomes which may be implemented in new diagnostic and therapeutic devices, and clinical trials. Horizontally, the integration of concurrent research programs which span corneal and glaucoma areas of ophthalmic research are also depicted. The graphic consists of a Venn diagram of two interlocking circles representing corneal and glaucoma research areas, with a central combined focus of universal translational programs in wound healing therapeutics, anterior segment drug delivery, biological surgical glue, and anterior segment imaging modalities to be explored. Final outcomes of new therapeutic and diagnostic approaches of TRIOS are depicted in purple on the roadmap.
The central core represents our translational and clinical approach to a series of 5 integrated core research modules focusing on a thematic program exploring biological processes occurring in wound healing, tissue repair and inflammation, with the primary aim to develop new diagnostic and therapeutic modalities for ocular surgery and the treatment of inflammatory ocular diseases.
Members of Programme
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SERI'S TEAM OF PIs |
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Principal Investigator |
Project |
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Dr Louis Tong |
Wound Healing Project |
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Prof Roger Beuerman |
Defensins Project |
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Dr Tina Wong |
Ocular Drug Delivery Project |
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Dr Jod Mehta |
Biological Tissue Glue Project |
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Prof Roger Beuerman |
Ocular Imaging Project |
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Prof Donald Tan |
Femtosecond Laser Surgery Project |
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Dr Jod Mehta |
Corneal Endothelial Cell Project |
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A/ Prof Aung Tin |
Primary Angle Closure Glaucoma Project:
- Neuroprotection Study
- Angel Imaging Study
- Ocular Genetics Study
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Dr Eranga |
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SERI'S TEAM OF LOCAL COLLABORATORS |
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A/Prof Michael Raghunath |
Department Biochemistry, NUS |
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Prof Colin Sheppard |
Division of Bioengineering, NUS |
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A/Prof Freddy Boey |
Department of Materials Science and Engineering, NTU |
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A/Prof Subbu Venkatraman |
Department of Materials Science and Engineering, NTU |
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Prof Paul Chew |
Department of Ophthalmology, NUHS |
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Dr Wong Hon Tym |
Department of Ophthalmology, TTSH |
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Dr Subhra Kumar Biswas |
Singapore Immunology Network (SIgN), A*STAR |
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Dr Chandra Shekhar Verma |
Bioinformatics Institute, A*STAR |
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A/Prof Mark Seielstad |
Genome Institute of Singapore, A*STAR |
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Prof Konstantin Pervushin |
School of Biological Sciences, NTU |
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SERI'S TEAM OF INTERNATIONAL COLLABORATORS |
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Prof Shigeru Kinoshita |
Department of Ophthalmology, Kyoto Prefectural University of Medicine, Japan |
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A/Prof Noriko Koizumi |
Research Center for Regenerative Medicine, Doshisha University, Japan |
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A/ Prof Michael Hauser |
Department of Ophthalmology, Duke Univeristy Medical Center, USA |
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Prof Jonathan Crowston |
Center for Eye Research Australia, University of Melbourne, Australia |
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Dr Paul Foster |
Department of Epidemiology, Institute of Ophthalmology, UK |
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Prof Peng Khaw |
Department of Epidemiology, Institute of Ophthalmology, UK |
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Prof Michal Schwartz |
Department of Neuroimmunology, The Weizmann Institute of Science, Israel |
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Prof Michael Belkin |
Incumbent of the Fox Chair of Ophthalmology, Tel Aviv University, Israel |
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Prof He Mingguang |
Department of Ophthalmology, Zhongshan Ophthalmic Center, China |
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Prof Rand Allingham |
Department of Ophthalmology, Duke Univeristy Medical Center, USA |
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A/Prof David Friedman |
Wilmer Eye Institute, Johns Hopkins University, USA |
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Prof Josef Bille |
Kirchoff-Institute for Physics, University of Heidelberg, Germany |
Selected Publications
Tong L, Chew J, Yang H, Ang LP, Tan DT, Beuerman RW. Distinct gene subsets in pterygia formation and recurrence: dissecting complex biological phenomenon using genome wide expression data. BMC Med Genomics. 2009 Mar 10; 2:14.
Tan DT, Beuerman RW. Ocular surface research at the Singapore Eye Research Institute. Ocul Surf. 2009 Apr; 7(2):115-7.
Tong L, RW Beuerman, H Yang. Prediction of pterygium recurrence based on a set of predictor genes. eLetter IOVS. IOVS Online, 17 Feb 2009.
How A, Chua JL, Charlton A, Su R, Lim M, Kumar RS, Crowston JG, Wong TT. Combined treatment with bevacizumab and 5-fluorouracil attenuates the postoperative scarring response after experimental glaucoma filtration surgery. Invest Ophthalmol Vis Sci. 2010 Feb; 51(2):928-32.
Li J, Zhu HY, Beuerman RW. Stimulation of specific cytokines in human conjunctival epithelial cells by defensins HNP1, HBD2, and HBD3. Invest Ophthalmol Vis Sci. 2009 Feb; 50(2):644-53.
Zhou L, Beuerman RW, Ang LP, Chan CM, Li SF, Chew FT, Tan DT. Elevation of human alpha-defensins and S100 calcium-binding proteins A8 and A9 in tear fluid of patients with pterygium. Invest Ophthalmol Vis Sci. 2009 May; 50(5):2077-86.
Bai Y, Liu S, Jiang P, Zhou L, Li J, Tang C, Verma C, Mu Y, Beuerman RW, Pervushin K. Structure-dependent charge density as a determinant of antimicrobial activity of peptide analogues of defensin. Biochemistry. 2009 Aug 4; 48(30):7229-39.
Seet LF, Su R, Barathi VA, Lee WS, Poh R, Heng YM, Manser E, Vithana EN, Aung T, Weaver M, Sage EH, Wong TT. SPARC Deficiency Results in Improved Surgical Survival in a Novel Mouse Model of Glaucoma Filtration Surgery. PLoS One. 2010 Feb 25; 5(2):e9415.
Wong HT, Lim MC, Sakata LM, Aung HT, Amerasinghe N, Friedman DS, Aung T. High-definition optical coherence tomography imaging of the iridocorneal angle of the eye. Arch Ophthalmol. 2009 Mar; 127(3):256-60.
Wong HT, Chua JL, Sakata LM, Wong MH, Aung HT, Aung T. Comparison of slitlamp optical coherence tomography and scanning peripheral anterior chamber depth analyzer to evaluate angle closure in Asian eyes. Arch Ophthalmol. 2009 May; 127(5):599-603.
