Yasuma Receives Fight for Sight Postdoctoral Research Award
Tetsuhiro Yasuma, postdoctoral Fellow in the Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences at the University of Kentucky College of Medicine, has been selected to receive the 2014 Fight for Sight Postdoctoral Award from Fight for Sight, a non-profit organization that promotes eye research by providing pilot funding to promising new researchers.
Yasuma received training in biomedical research as an undergraduate student in Japan and general ophthalmology and surgery in graduate school. Yasuma joined the Ambati lab at UK in 2012. His research focuses on finding treatment for dry Age-Related Macular Degeneration (AMD), the form of AMD that affects the majority of AMD patients and for which there are no current therapies.
"Recently, we discovered that one class of molecule called Alu RNA contributes to dry AMD and that blocking downstream signals of Alu RNA may be an effective treatment," Yasuma said. "Ideally, we would like to discover how to block upstream signaling of Alu RNA – to halt retinal degeneration at its early stages."
Media Contact: Ann Blackford at 859-323-6442 or ann.lblackford@uky.edu
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