Christine Sorenson, PhD, distinguished scientist, Division of Neonatology and Newborn Nursery, has been awarded a Retina Research Foundation Pilot Study Award for $45,000. Sorenson’s project is titled “Treatment and prevention of PVR and retinal detachment,” and it aims to improve vision outcomes for patients who have proliferative vitreoretinopathy (PVR). PVR is a rare ocular condition that can lead to vision loss or blindness. It occurs after retinal detachment repair surgery or as a result of an open globe injury (trauma to the eyeball). When a person develops PVR, cells in the retina start to multiply and form scar tissue. Sorenson’s treatment aims to decrease scar formation. The hypothesis she will test is that the expression and activity of Bcl-2, a protein that prevents cell death in microglia and recruited myeloid cells, plays an important role during retinal scar formation. The Sorenson Research Group studies the role that apoptotic processes play in retinal and kidney vascular development and how they are regulated during disease. The project will begin soon and will last through the end of 2023.