Dr. Ambati and CAVS (Center for Advanced Vision Science) has recently been featured on UVA Illimitable talking about their macular degeneration research.
“If macular degeneration were a country, it would be the eighth-most populated nation in the world,” said UVA’s Dr. Jayakrishna Ambati. Put plainly, macular degeneration means hundreds of millions of people are at risk of going blind.
Through collaboration, Dr. Ambati and his team found that macular degeneration patients have an excess of Alu, a toxic molecule similar to HIV. Testing antiretrovirals – a drug already approved for the treatment of HIV and AIDS – they discovered an interruption in the progress of macular degeneration models. Which led them to ask a question: Could antiretrovirals affect other aging diseases?
Come take a look, watch the video, and read the rest of the story!
Tags: Ambati, blind, cavs, macular degeneration, MD, Research