Visual Research Project
Development of Therapeutic Strategies for Visual Impairment using Neuroprotection and Optic Nerve Regeneration
Takayuki Harada has been the head of the Visual Research Project since 2011 and a visiting professor in the Department of Ophthalmology at Tokushima University since 2013. He obtained his MD from Hokkaido University School of Medicine in 1992 and worked as a long- term fellow of the Human Frontier Foundation at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in 2001, and as a molecular neuroscientist at the Medical Research Institute of Tokyo Medical and Dental University in 2002, before becoming the director of the Molecular Neurobiology Research Division of the Tokyo Metropolitan Institute of Neuroscience in 2004.
Backgrounds
More than 1.6 million people in Japan are visually impaired and the number of patients with conditions such as glaucoma and photoreceptor degeneration is increasing. We seek to elucidate mechanisms involved in the onset of visual impairments such as normal tension glaucoma (NTG), develop a neuroprotective retinal therapy using animal disease models, and establish methods to promote regeneration of the optic nerve.
Objectives
- To develop a neuroprotective retinal therapy using an animal disease models
- To elucidate the mechanisms involved in the onset of optic neuritis
- To establish a method to promote regeneration of the optic nerve
Members
Project Leader Takayuki Harada
- Kazuhiko Namekata
- Youichi Shinozaki
- Guo Xiaoli