Ueffing Lab

Molecular Biology of Retinal Degenerations

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Age Related Macula Degeneration - The EYE-RISK consortium

The Ueffing lab is committed to systems medicine and focuses on pathomechanisms and treatment of retinal degeneration. In the EU Horizon2020 collaborative project EYE-RISK, we investigate the risks and pathways of retinal degeneration caused by Age-related macular degeneration (AMD).  EYE-RISK is coordinated by Marius Ueffing and Caroline Klaver from Erasmus University, Rotterdam, and comprises academic labs and partners from industry and patient advocacy of the six European countries Netherlands, UK, France, Spain, Switzerland, and Germany.

AMD is the most frequent cause of blindness in Europem but medicine cannot offer a cure or prevention to patients. Epidemiology established that the probability of contracting AMD increases sharply after the age of 65. Human genetics indicates that the probability is influenced by a limited number of gene variants and non-genetic factors. However, we do not know as to what cellular signaling pathway drives the degeneration of retinal cells and how the factors age, gene variants and environment interact to accelerate or to slow down the progression of AMD.

EYE-RISK aims to provide novel insights into AMD to clinicians, AMD patients and drug developers in the pharmaceutical industry alike. EYE-RISK aims to capture the next level of complexity of vision loss in order to understand the interconnection of discrete genetic risks, the interaction with lifestyle factors, and the effect of age on the development and progression of AMD. In order to achieve this, EYE-RISK is combining knowledge from epidemiology, genetics, computational biology, advanced analytics, imaging, and functional laboratory studies. EYE-RISK aims to deliver novel insights in three areas:

  • an algorithm for the prediction of individual AMD risks used by ophthalmologists and their patients to prevent and manage disease
  • a protein array for the diagnosis of AMD risks and endophenotypes
  • a molecular target for therapy development.

The Ueffing lab conducts work in several EYE-RISK work packages. We utilise our expertise in proteomics, metabolomics, cell biology and pathway analysis. Using cell lines, we seek to build parts of the disease mechanism in a dish and aim to identify, model and validate AMD risk factors and disease drivers. Within the Centre for Ophthalmology Tübingen, we collaborate with the eye clinic for the identification of novel biomarkers.

EYE-RISK is running until 2019 and is part of the EU Horizon2020 programme “Personalising health and care” Grant agreement No. 634479

Scientists in Ueffing Lab

Project Management

More information on the EYE-RISK project

Please vistit the website www.eyerisk.eu.