Recent News

Laura Moreno-Leon, a postdoctoral fellow in the Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences has won the prestigious Horae Gene Therapy Center Postdoctoral Research Fellowship award. This award will help Dr. Moreno-Leon continue her studies on understanding the molecular underpinnings of X-linked retinitis pigmentosa, a debilitating inherited blindness disorder due to the death of our light-sensing neurons called photoreceptors. 

The Individual Investigator Research Grant application of Dr. Hemant Khanna, Associate Professor in the Department of Ophthalmology & Visual Sciences, UMass Chan Medical School, has been selected for funding by the Foundation Fighting Blindness. The funding decisions are made through a rigorous review process of the Executive Scientific Advisory Board Committee, which consists of the field’s leading researchers.

Hemant Khanna, PhD Associate Professor in the Department of Ophthalmology & Visual Sciences, UMass Chan Medical School has been appointed to serve on the Diseases and Pathophysiology of the Visual System (DPVS) Study Section. Dr. Khanna’s term runs from July 2020 to June 2024.

Candy may have been involved, but the UMass Memorial Eye Center played no tricks when they treated visitors to their Eyes to the Past presentation at the Lamar Soutter Library at the UMass Chan Medical School.

The UMass Chan Medical School has licensed the exclusive global rights to develop and commercialize novel adeno-associated virus (AAV) gene therapy product candidates for the treatment of Leber Congenital Amaurosis type 10 (LCA10) to IVERIC bio, Inc. 

The Dan and Diane Riccio Fund for Neuroscience will support four $50,000 seed grants in 2019 to fuel innovative discoveries through interdisciplinary collaborations that deepen the understanding of brain function and the processes that go awry in neurological diseases.

Ophthotech collaborates with UMass Chan Medical School on novel technology for next-generation gene delivery technology and novel gene therapies for ophthalmic diseases.

Dr. Shlomit Schaal and Dr. Hemant Khanna have been awarded a competitive grant from The Macula Society. The grant funds are supported by Regeneron. As part of this grant, the investigators

Michael Volkert, PhD (Department of Microbiology and Physiological Systems) and Hemant Khanna, PhD (Department of Ophthalmology & Visual Sciences) of UMass Chan Medical School have been awarded.

Hemant Khanna, PhD and colleagues have published a study in the journal Human Gene Therapy            

Hemant Khanna, PhD is the editor of an ebook entitled “Molecular Bases of Neurodegenerative Diseases of the Retina”.

Hemant Khanna, PhD has been awarded the renewal of his NIH-RO1 grant entitled “Function of ciliary disease protein retinitis pigmentosa GTPase regulator (RPGR)”.

New research by Hemant Khanna, PhD, and colleagues in the Horae Gene Therapy Center at UMass Chan Medical School explores gene therapy to treat the most common form of Leber congenital amaurosis, a severe inherited disorder that causes childhood blindness.