MINNEAPOLIS/ST. PAUL (6/16/2026) — A University of Minnesota Medical School research team has been awarded a 4-year, $2.2 million grant from the National Eye Institute to better understand the underlying causes of retinal diseases, such as age-related macular degeneration (AMD), and develop new treatments that could benefit patients.
“This project will positively impact our knowledge of an important protein that resides outside of cells, called an extracellular matrix protein. Alterations in one particular extracellular matrix protein, called fibulin-3, causes a number of blinding eye diseases,” said John Hulleman, PhD , an associate professor at the University of Minnesota Medical School’s Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Neurosciences. “Our research aims to develop additional tools to better understand fibulin-3 and provide potential therapeutics to prevent eye diseases associated with this protein.”
The focus of this grant is to develop a tractable therapeutic for AMD and a rare retinal dystrophy called Doyne honeycomb retinal dystrophy/Malattia Leventinese (DHRD/ML).
The research team will:
The study is currently underway. The grant number for this project is 2R01EY027785-07A1.
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