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2019 Research Grant Presentations

Check was presented to Colin Bretz, M.S., Ph.D., by current and past officers of the Grand
Encampment, Grand Commandery, Social Order of the Beauceant and Grand Lodge of Utah

Since 1956, the Knights Templar Eye Foundation (KTEF) has supported research and helped
launch the careers of clinical and basic researchers focused on the prevention and cure of
potentially blinding diseases in infants and children.
Retinopathy of Prematurity (ROP) is one of those diseases.

The leading cause of preventable childhood blindness, ROP affects preterm infants who are
born before 31 weeks, before the retina has developed a full network of blood vessels to
nourish it.
This June, the KTEF awarded a $65,000 Career-Starter Research Grant to John A. Moran
Eye Center retinal researcher Colin Bretz, M.S., Ph.D, for his work to better assess the risk
of ROP and the infants in need of treatment.
Working in the National Institutes of Health-funded lab of top retinal research Mary
Elizabeth Hartnett, MD, Bretz and his colleagues work to understand what causes blood
vessels to grow outside their normal tissue compartments and into other areas of the eye
where they cause damage.

Long-term goal: safe treatment

Whether an infant experiences surgery for the most progressive stages of ROP or develops
a milder form that eventually resolves on its own, infants with ROP are considered to be
at higher risk for developing certain eye problems later in life, such as retinal detachment,
myopia, strabismus, amblyopia, and glaucoma.

“Clinical findings have shown that a factor, soluble E-selectin (sE-selectin), is elevated in the
bloodstream of preterm infants who develop ROP compared to those who do not. We will
study how sE-selectin is elevated and if it is involved in the pathology leading to blindness in
ROP. We will use experimental models to understand the role of sE-selectin in ROP as initial
steps in our long-term goals to find a safe treatment for ROP and develop biomarkers to better
identify preterm infants at increased risk or in need of treatment for ROP,” said Bretz.

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