A researcher at Upstate Medical University has received a $2.3 million federal grant to investigate how the retina’s light-sensing structures are formed and maintained, advancing efforts to address inherited retinal diseases that currently have no effective treatments. The five-year project focuses on understanding the molecular processes that enable photoreceptor cells to continuously renew the structures responsible for capturing light. This NIH-funded research could lay the foundation for new treatments for currently incurable forms of blindness by identifying the biological mechanisms that maintain photoreceptor cell function. The award also strengthens Upstate Medical University’s role in vision research and supports long-term efforts to prevent vision loss and improve the quality of life for individuals affected by inherited retinal diseases.

Dr. Donald Kohn, a UCLA physician-scientist whose work has helped bring life-saving blood stem cell gene therapies from the laboratory to patients with blood and immune diseases, has been elected to the National Academy of Medicine, one of the highest honors in the fields of health and medicine.

Gladstone Institutes scientists Melanie Ott, MD, PhD, and Alex Marson, MD, PhD, have earned one of the highest honors in health and medicine with their election to the National Academy of Medicine.

Nikki Thiele, a staff scientist in the Chemical Sciences Division of the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory, has received a 2026 NIH Director’s New Innovator Award. The five-year National Institutes of Health grant supports innovative research with the potential for broad impact on biomedical and behavioral science. Thiele will develop innovative chelator designs to improve targeted radiopharmaceuticals.