Dr. Brahim Chaqour Receives $1.5 Million Grant from National Eye Institute
Mar 15, 2012
Brahim Chaqour, PhD, associate professor of cell biology and ophthalmology at SUNY Downstate Medical Center, received a grant award from the National Eye Institute of the National Institutes of Health to support his research on disorders of retinal vessel growth and function, which are responsible for vision loss in retinopathy of infant prematurity—a leading cause of vision impairment and blindness in childhood.
This award, in the amount of $1,571,000, provides Dr. Chaqour with the opportunity to continue his investigations in the mechanisms of retinal capillary closure and neovascularization that results in bleeding and retinal detachment. These are major causes of blindness in patients with diabetic retinopathy, retinopathy of infant prematurity, and age-related macular degeneration. Said Dr. Chaqour, “Knowledge gained from these studies will allow development of new therapeutic leads to treat retinal ischemic diseases and improve the pharmacotherapy of microangiopathies as a whole.”
Dr. Chaqour’s research has focused on the regulation and function of specific matricellular proteins known as CCN proteins [Cysteine-rich protein 61, connective tissue growth factor, nephroblastoma overexpressed (NOV)]. These are multimodular developmentally regulated, immediate early-gene encoded, integrin-binding proteins with cell type- and cell context-dependent functions. They exhibit pro- and anti-angiogenic, apoptotic- and/or profibrotic activities and regulate both developmental and pathological processes. As such, these proteins have emerged as early diagnostic markers and potential therapeutic targets.
Dr Chaqour is one of the leading researchers in the biology of these molecules and his previous work has already identified key molecular intermediates in the regulation and function of these molecules that are amenable to pharmacological manipulations.
### About SUNY Downstate Medical Center SUNY Downstate Medical Center, founded in 1860, was the first medical school in the
United States to bring teaching out of the lecture hall and to the patient’s bedside.
A center of innovation and excellence in research and clinical service delivery, SUNY
Downstate Medical Center comprises a College of Medicine, College of Nursing, School
of Health Professions, a School of Graduate Studies, School of Public Health, University
Hospital of Brooklyn, and a multifaceted biotechnology initiative including the Downstate
Biotechnology Incubator and BioBAT for early-stage and more mature companies, respectively. SUNY Downstate ranks twelfth nationally in the number of alumni who are on the faculty
of American medical schools. More physicians practicing in New York City have graduated
from SUNY Downstate than from any other medical school.