University of Colorado ophthalmology researcher awarded funding to advance study of uveitis and ocular inflammation

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Lynn Hassman, MD, PhD, an assistant professor of ophthalmology at the University of Colorado School of Medicine, has received the 2024 Philip and Elaine Ellis New Investigator in Ophthalmology Research Award, a $40,000 grant to support her work studying ocular inflammation and uveitis.

“Dr. Hassman is an exceptionally promising investigator at the interface of ocular inflammation and immunology. Her work will revolutionize our understanding of the mechanisms of inflammation in the eye and therefore in the selection of appropriate therapeutic agents,” Alan Palestine, MD, professor of ophthalmology and director of the department’s Center for Ocular Inflammation, said in a University of Colorado news release. “She is at the forefront of innovation in our department, being one the first true clinician scientists working both in the lab and seeing patients in clinical settings.”

According to a University of Colorado news release, the fund was established in 2020 by Philip Ellis, MD, who served as department chair from 1960 to 1995, and his late wife Elaine, to support new researchers in the field of ophthalmology. The award grants $40,000 to a new researcher each year until 2025.¹

Identifying triggers of uveitis

According to the news release, understanding the basics of what causes various types of uveitis immune responses is the foundation to being able to better treat patients. Uveitis, a form of inflammation in the middle layer of the eyeball is estimated to be the root cause of about 10% to 15% blindness cases in the United States.

There currently are few treatments for uveitis, and those that exist usually work for about 50% to 70% of patients, but thousands of targeted immune therapy drugs exist that could potentially be better matches for the remaining patients who don’t respond to available therapies.¹

Hassman said researchers don’t know why those available drugs fail on more than half of patients.

“My hypothesis is that there’s a different immunologic mechanism driving disease in different groups of patients,” she said in the news release. “Put simply, we need to match the right drug with the right patients, but to do that we need to understand the immunologic mechanisms at play.”

According to the university, Hassman’s research since arriving in the department last October has focused on gaining more understanding about uveitis triggers, and she said she hopes to expand her work with grant money from the award.

“In my research, I’ve learned that different types of uveitis have different types of immune responses,” Hassman said in the news release. “That likely means we should treat patients with different types of uveitis with different types of therapies.”

Hassman said her goal is to know which drugs are right for which patients based on characterizing their ocular immune response.

“Having more funds to work with through this award means we can accelerate work and hopefully reach answers more quickly,” she explained in the news release. “Specifically, we will use this money to generate some critical tools to help us identify the antigens triggering B cells to become active in the eyes of some patients with uveitis.

Moreover, Hassman pointed out that the experiments will get researchers closer to understanding how uveitis in these patients is immunologically different from other patients.

“[It] will also give us leverage to obtain a larger National Institutes of Health grant down the road,” she said.

Next steps for research

Hassman has a growing team that may be on the verge of breakthroughs at the researcher's work to gain a better understanding of uveitis and potential targeted therapies.

Lynn Hassman, MD, PhD.

This year, Palestine and Hassman started the process of completing DNA sequencing on 1000 patients of the Sue Anschutz-Rogers Eye Center who have taken part in a uveitis biorepository registry.¹

The biorepository will form the basis for decades of research into the mechanisms of ocular inflammation by looking at genetics and protein expression and inflammatory mediators in these diseases.¹

Hassman noted in the news release that the team currently is in discovery mode, characterizing the human ocular immune response with new techniques.

“This phase will eventually to clinical trials that target precise disease mechanisms in individual patients,” Hassman said in the statement. “It’s an exciting time to be part of a dedicated group of researchers and have the ability to investigate aspects of ocular inflammation that will have meaningful impacts on patients. I’m grateful to Dr. Ellis for having to foresight to invest in the future of ophthalmology research and am fortunate to receive these funds.”

This biorepository will form the basis for a decade of research into the mechanisms of ocular inflammation by looking at not only genetics but protein expression and inflammatory mediators in these diseases.¹

Reference:

1. Mason K. CU Ophthalmology Researcher Awarded Funding to Further Study Uveitis and Ocular Inflammation. Cuanschutz.edu. Published September 9, 2024. Accessed September 10, 2024. https://news.cuanschutz.edu/ophthalmology/cu-ophthalmology-researcher-awarded-funding-to-further-study-uveitis-and-ocular-inflammation