BrightFocus Foundation Announces $8.7 Million in Research Grants
Will Fund Innovative Research on Alzheimer's and Vision Diseases
CLARKSBURG, MD—BrightFocus Foundation today announced more than $8.7 million in research grant awards, funding cutting-edge science in the search for a cure for diseases of mind and sight. Grants will help support 59 research projects involving scientists in six nations, 19 states, and the District of Columbia
The nonprofit foundation will provide more than $5.2 million for Alzheimer's disease research projects examining such challenging subjects as the role of inflammation, diabetes, or newly discovered genes in the development of the disease. Another $3.5 million is offered to research projects on macular degeneration or glaucoma: topics include cellular therapies, genetic research, and the testing of new treatments.
“BrightFocus strives to identify and support the most promising, early-stage research,” said BrightFocus President and CEO Stacy Pagos Haller. “We fund some of the best ideas within the scientific community, with grants vetted by the world’s top scientists in the field.”
With these latest grant awards, BrightFocus will have funded more than $140 million in research over the last four decades, with more than $35 million awarded in the last five years alone.
Haller noted that foundation support of early-stage researchers is critical at a time of continued strain on federal research funding, saying that the search for a cure must involve the combined efforts of the public, private, and nonprofit sectors. “While we have made significant advances that have brought us closer to new treatments,” she said, “we have more work to do and no time to lose.”
The names and projects of this year’s individual grant recipients will be announced at a later date, pending completion of final agreements with researchers and supporting institutions.
BrightFocus Foundation is a nonprofit organization supporting research and public education to help eradicate brain and eye diseases, including Alzheimer's disease, macular degeneration and glaucoma. For more information, call 1-800-437-2423.