Glaucoma Research Foundation

Catalyst For a Cure

Catalyst For a Cure (CFC) is a major collaborative research effort redefining how glaucoma research is conducted. This unique research model is focused on one clear objective: finding a cure for glaucoma. The CFC consortium is different from most research efforts in glaucoma both by its design and its intent.

The CFC was formed in 2002 by convening four investigative groups chosen by the Glaucoma Research Foundation’s CFC Scientific Advisory Board for their particular expertise in neurobiology, ophthalmology and developmental genetics. Each group forms a nucleus whose purpose is to facilitate the rapid and efficient development of technologies pertinent to understanding the causes of glaucoma and identifying potential new treatments.

Catalyst For a Cure (CFC) breaks with the traditional approach to medical research. Typically, individual scientists work on separate projects and share the advances they make only at conferences and in publications. Often, scientists in the same field are in competition for grant money to fund their work. CFC researchers, however, are engaged in a full, ongoing partnership. They spend time together in each other’s labs, collaborate online, and share results as they go.

Results-oriented Research

Since 2002, our funding of the Catalyst For a Cure (CFC) and its innovative collaborative approach to research has already changed the conventional understanding of glaucoma from an eye disease to a neurodegenerative disease.

Research has yielded results on two fronts: preventing vision loss from latestage glaucoma and therapeutic treatment to stop glaucoma before it starts. For example, two papers from the CFC, published in the Journal of Neuroscience in 2008, have uncovered important findings:

In the early stages of glaucoma, there is a failure of transport of important scaffolding material, nutrients and individual fibers in the optic nerve. This shows up first not in the eye, but in the visual centers of the brain — and coincides with a build-up of oxidative stress and a slowing down of tiny energy batteries in the nerves known as mitochondria.

While this is occurring, the connections in the retina that begin the transfer of visual information are targeted for removal, which is affected by specialized sentinels in the retina called microglia. In the early stages of glaucoma, microglia scan the retina for signs of damaged connections and mark those connections for removal by the immune system, leading to vision loss.

In 2009, the CFC will continue to chase down the mechanisms underlying transport loss, oxidative stress, and loss of connections so they can be targeted through new therapeutic interventions.

Investing in Research to Find a Cure

“The Catalyst For a Cure has not only been a success, but continues to serve as a national role model for performing research. The CFC researchers have not stopped with mere bench work focused on disease mechanisms — they are now testing interventions.

They are taking a ‘translational’ approach whereby the interventions they are testing arise from and contribute to our understanding of mechanisms of disease progression. This combination of focused research and targeted therapy has yielded an effective and efficient approach that I believe will maximize GRF’s return on investment.”

Martin B. Wax M.D.
Chief Medical Officer and EVP R&D
PanOptica, Inc.
Mount Arlington, NJ

At Glaucoma Research Foundation, we have made a serious commitment to this research. The level of funding for CFC is significant, at the level of a government grant. The project is structured with an investing mindset, focused on clear goals and useful results. Free from competing for money, the scientists are able to focus on their work.

The CFC researchers use state of the art tools, including genetic mapping information and microarray technology, to learn more about how glaucoma progresses to actual vision loss. They have found, for example, that changes to the nervous system in the eye and the brain occur earlier than the disease appears, probably even as the eye is developing.

Their goal is to identify exactly what to target in the disease pathway with new drug or genetic therapies and exactly when in the disease process (possibly before the process even begins) the therapies would be most effective.

The implications for treatment of glaucoma and other degenerative diseases are vast. This is why we are fully committed to the project. We believe the innovative design of the CFC and the talented scientists it has brought together are our best hope for finding a cure for this devastating disease.

Catalyst For A Cure Principal Investigators: David Calkins, PhD (Vanderbilt University), Philip Horner, PhD (University of Washington), Nicholas Marsh-Armstrong, PhD (Johns Hopkins University), Monica Vetter, PhD (University of Utah).

This article reviewed and updated April 10, 2009