Current Research Grants

The following is a list of current AMDF grants and grant extensions.  Some AMDF grants are for multiple years, as outlined in the full award description. 

2024 AMDF Research Grants

Palmino Gioioso / AMDF Young Researcher Leadership Award 

To Andrew Chang, a recent university graduate involved in vision science research focused on age-related macular degeneration at the UCLA Stein Eye Institute.

AMDF / ARVO Travel Grants 

To the Association of Researchers in Vision and Ophthalmology (ARVO), for costs associated with the attendance of young AMD researchers to the ARVO annual meeting.

Arda Fidanci, University of Minnesota Twin Cities
The Preferred Retinal Location Used for Reading Is Most Often The Same Location Used for Fixation in Central Vision Loss

Kristy Yoo, University of Southern California Keck School of Medicine

Longitudinal Relationship Between Chronic Stress Quantified by Allostatic Load and Age-Related Macular Degeneration in the All of Us Research Program

AMDF Travel Grant

Andrew Chang, UCLA Stein Eye Institute, for costs associated with attending the 2024 Annual Meeting of the Association for Researcher in Vision and Ophthalmology.

2023 AMDF Research Grants 

AMDF Breakthrough Award

To Adam Hanina, CEO, Dandelion Science, New Jersey, for a neurotechnology-based approach to target visual processing and activate the visual cortex, which will provide AMD patients greater access to peripheral visual information. 

AMDF Thrive Award

To William Seiple, PhD, Chief Research Officer, Lighthouse Guild, New York, New York, for a study of the functional efficacy of various assistive devices for people with vision impairment and to build an evidence-based algorithm for recommending assistive technology to low vision specialists and people with vision impairment. 

AMDF Breakthrough Award (extension) 

To Johanna Seddon, MD, ScM, Director of Retina, Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Science & Director of the Macular Degeneration Center of Excellence, University of Massachusetts Chan Medical School, to elucidate new biological pathways involved in AMD, identify proteins of interest and regulators of the genes, and identify new therapeutic targets. Visit the Seddon lab.

AMDF Breakthrough Award (extension) 

To Neena Haider, PhD, Founder at Shifa Precision, for the identification of biomarkers for neurological aging diseases. 

AMDF/RPB Catalyst Award

To Rajendra Apte, MD, PhD., Vice Chair, Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences, Washington University in St Louis, a three-year, co-funding commitment with Research to Prevent Blindness, Inc., to examine the role of a novel apolipoprotein in regulating drusen formation during the development of the AMD phenotype, which will provide proof-of-concept evidence that lipid-based therapies could be developed to treat early AMD prior to vision loss.

AMDF / ARVO Travel Grants 

To the Association of Researchers in Vision and Ophthalmology (ARVO), for costs associated with the attendance of young AMD researchers to the ARVO annual meeting.

Aamir Abdul Aziz, University of Nevada, Reno School of Medicine 

The Real-World Efficacy and Safety of Faricimab in Neovascular Age-Related Macular Degeneration: The TRUCKEE Study

Claire Weber, National Eye Institute, National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences
Metabolomics of age-related macular degeneration points to lipid dysregulation and inflammation: an AREDS pilot study