Establishment of the Center for Translational Vision Research (CTVR) as a provisional Organized Research Unit

Dear Colleagues:

I am pleased to announce the establishment of the Center for Translational Vision Research (CTVR) as a provisional Organized Research Unit (proORU), under the Direction of Professor Krzystof Palczewski and Clinical Co-Director Baruch Kuppermann.

The Center for Translational Vision Research (CTVR) focuses on fostering vision research at the Gavin Herbert Eye Institute (GHEI). The purpose of the Center is to increase the knowledge of normal vision and blinding disorders, and to create innovative technologies, solutions and educational programs that improve visual health. To achieve the Center’s mission, scientists, engineers, and physicians will devote their time and talents to discoveries in the basic and translational sciences, forming the bedrock of inventive therapies for the prevention or treatment of visual diseases.

The Center’s research focus intersects the fields of ophthalmology, chemistry, physics, optics, structural biology, chemical biology, pharmacology, physiology, and genomics/diagnostics. Through its growth in multidisciplinary campus‐wide efforts, the Center is poised to expand its discoveries across the basic sciences in the hope of establishing a more thorough comprehension of human visual perception and disease. Collaboration across these disciplines will empower the Center to serve as a paradigm of investigation in other areas of modern biochemistry and disease‐oriented medicine. The resultant breakthroughs in basic vision research will lead to new therapies for patients suffering from, or progressing toward, blindness.

CTVR will be an essential hub for connections to global leaders in vision research, community stake holders, and corporations through the Ophthalmology Research Seminars series, the annual Bench-to-Bedside Symposium, the Visiting Scientist Program, the Eye Mobile, 20/20 and on-going partnerships with Allergan and Alcon.

For more information, please see https://faculty.sites.uci.edu/ctvr/

Please join me in congratulating Director Palczewski, and the entire CTVR team!

Sincerely,

Pramod Khargonekar, Ph.D.
Vice Chancellor for Research
Distinguished Professor of Electrical Engineering & Computer Science