2025 Shaffer Research Grants Announced

The Glaucoma Research Foundation has named nine researchers as recipients of its 2025 Shaffer Research Grants. Each grant provides $55,000 in seed funding to support innovative, one-year projects aligned with the Foundation’s strategic goals in glaucoma research.

Glaucoma Research Foundation Honors Innovation in Vision Science

In recognition of visionary glaucoma specialist Dr. Robert N. Shaffer, the Shaffer Research Grants provide critical early-stage funding to support novel approaches aimed at preserving and restoring vision. The Foundation’s president and CEO, Thomas M. Brunner, emphasized the community’s role in enabling these projects.

“We are extremely fortunate for the ongoing and generous investment from our glaucoma community which enables these promising areas of research to be explored,” Brunner said. “These one-year incubator grants attract much-needed brainpower to the field of glaucoma and move us ever closer to the discovery of new treatments.”

2025 Shaffer Research Grant Recipients and Projects

The 2025 grant cycle supports a wide spectrum of research approaches—from gene therapy to biomechanics—reflecting the complexity of glaucoma as a neurodegenerative disease. The awardees and their respective projects include:

• Steven Barnes, PhD – Doheny Eye Institute, UCLA
Project: Intrinsic Ion Channels Reduce Excitability During Energy Stress

• Richard Eva, PhD – King’s College London
Project: Pro-Tect and Restore: Developing Pro-trudinPlus Gene Therapy

• Karl Kador, PhD – University of Missouri-Kansas City
Project: Reintroducing Developmentally Regulated Guidance Factors to the Optic Nerve

• Balasankara Reddy Kaipa, PhD – University of California, Irvine
Project: Lipid nanoparticle-mediated delivery of base editor ribonucleoprotein complex targeting the trabecular meshwork for glaucoma treatment

• Shruthi Karnam, PhD – University of California, Berkeley
Project: Targeting Lipoxin B4 for Reversing Astrocyte-Mediated Neuroinflammation in Glaucoma

• Fiona McDonnell, PhD – Moran Eye Center, University of Utah
Project: Extracellular Vesicle Regulation of ECM in the Lamina Cribrosa

• Joel Palko, MD – West Virginia University School of Medicine
Project: Impact of Low Blood Pressure on Optic Nerve Head (ONH) Biomechanics in Glaucoma

• Vidhya Rao, PhD – Loyola University Chicago
Project: Role of NADPH Oxidase-4 (NOX4) Induced Mitochondrial Dysfunction in Primary Open Angle Glaucoma

• Supraja Varadarajan, PhD – University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center
Project: The Role of Postsynaptic Targets in Preserving Vision

Supporting Early-Stage Research for Long-Term Impact

The Shaffer Research Grants continue to serve as a vital incubator for early-stage projects that may later evolve into large-scale, translational studies. By targeting gaps in understanding and exploring untested hypotheses, the Foundation ensures ongoing innovation in the fight against glaucoma, a leading cause of irreversible blindness worldwide.

Conclusion

With these new projects underway, the Glaucoma Research Foundation reaffirms its commitment to fostering scientific breakthroughs that could lead to improved diagnostics, novel therapies, and ultimately, a cure for glaucoma.