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Presenting the check to Dr. Grieg were Sir Knights from California; David Studley, Grand
Generalissimo and Trustee of the Knights Templar Eye Foundation; other Sir Knights present were
Howard Ramsey, Past Grand Commander; Brandon Duenas, Past Commander San Jose #10; Norman
Mallillin, Commander of California #1; and William Eadus, Generalissimo California #1

Luciano Custo Greig, M.D., Ph.D., from Stanford University School of Medicine located
in Palo Alto, CA was awarded a $65,000 grant for his research on regeneration of retinal
ganglion cells from endogenous progenitors.
These studies aim to take dormant progenitor (stem) cells that reside in the eye and induce
them to make new retinal neurons so that they may replace those lost to disease or injury.
In particular, they will focus on making new retinal ganglion cells, which are the neurons
in the eye that send information to the brain along the optic nerve, making them very
important for vision.
Once retinal ganglion cells die as a result of
glaucoma or other disorders, the eye is unable
to replace them. However, other animals, such
as zebrafish, have dormant stem cells that can
produce new neurons in response to injury and
rebuild visual circuits. Although these stem
cells are also present in humans, their response
to injury is ineffective and fails to generate
replacement neurons.

These approaches to stimulate production of new retinal ganglion cells could be used in the
future to develop treatments for a number of pediatric eye disorders, including pediatric
glaucoma, hereditary optic neuropathies, developmental syndromes associated with optic
nerve hypoplasia and traumatic optic nerve injuries.

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