An estimated 4 million Americans have glaucoma, a group of eye diseases that can lead to irreversible blindness. Now, Georgia Tech is home to a Glaucoma Research Fund that will support cutting-edge work to understand and advance treatments for the disease.

The new initiative was sparked by ongoing research at Georgia Tech — and a Yellow Jacket connection: when Postdoctoral Research Fellow Hannah Youngblood’s work on exfoliation glaucoma (XFG) was featured by the BrightFocus Foundation, it caught the attention of Jennifer Rucker, an Alabama resident who was diagnosed with XFG several years ago.

Excited that the research could change outcomes for people like her — and proud that it’s happening at her husband Philip Rucker’s, EE 72, alma mater — Jennifer Rucker reached out to Youngblood and her advisor, School of Chemistry and Biochemistry Professor and Kelly Sepcic Pfeil, Ph.D. Chair Raquel Lieberman. 

“As the wife of a Georgia Tech graduate and an individual with pseudoexfoliation glaucoma, I was inspired to support the scientists whose efforts may help me and others,” Jennifer Rucker says. What followed was a meaningful dialogue and a shared sense of purpose — and the creation of the Georgia Tech Glaucoma Research Fund (Wreck Glaucoma! Fund). 

“It meant so much that Jennifer took the initiative to reach out to learn more about our research,” says Lieberman. “Moments like this remind me how deeply meaningful it is to connect with people in the broader community who are navigating glaucoma. Opportunities for such personal connections are rare, but they inspire and further motivate us to achieve our lab’s mission to improve the lives of individuals suffering from blindness diseases.”

A Personal Connection

Youngblood’s interest in glaucoma research also stems from a personal connection: her father was diagnosed with glaucoma as a young adult. Now, Youngblood studies the genetic and molecular factors behind XFG in the Lieberman research lab. 

“XFG is an aggressive form of the disease with no known cure,” Youngblood says. While scientists know that XFG is the result of abnormal accumulation of proteins in the eye, current treatments only address symptoms rather than treating the root cause of the disease.

“We know XFG is driven by protein buildup, but we still don’t know why it happens,” she explains. “My work studying specific genetic variants aims to uncover this.” 

The Genetics of Glaucoma

In particular, Youngblood is researching the role of LOXL1, a protein that plays a role in soft tissue throughout the body, including the eyes.

“Research has shown that people with variants in the genes responsible for this protein are more likely to have XFG,” she says. “That made me curious to see if the variants might be impacting the structure of the LOXL1 protein itself and how those variants might lead to disease.”

Youngblood is currently testing her theory in the lab. “My hope is that new insight into proteins like LOXL1 will bring us closer to treatments that address XFG at its source,” she says. “The new Georgia Tech Glaucoma Research Fund is a tremendous step forward in making that hope a reality.”

Support the Georgia Tech Glaucoma Research Fund

Please visit the Glaucoma Research Fund support page to give to this specific program. To discuss additional philanthropic opportunities, please contact the College of Sciences Development Team: development@cos.gatech.edu

Your investment ensures that these scholars and researchers have world-class resources, facilities, and mentors to excel in this critical work. Thank you for helping us shape the future.

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Building on more than a year of successful collaboration, Dolby Labs has extended its investment in Georgia Tech’s College of Computing for a second year, donating $600,000 to support cutting-edge research.

Dolby and the College each have laboratories in the Coda building, which promotes collaboration at various levels. The audiovisual technology company supported seven research projects last year, spanning computing systems and AI modeling. The partnership also includes events such as this month’s co-hosted student seminar.

“This partnership has reinforced the importance of taking an interdisciplinary approach to our research,” said Vivek Sarkar, Dean of Computing, who worked in industry for two decades before returning to academia.

“I’d like to see us go even deeper in finding ways to combine faculty from different schools and different research areas to work with one partner.”

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Yalong Yang, an assistant professor at Georgia Tech’s School of Interactive Computing, is one of the researchers who received Dolby support last year. He and his lab have been working on creating interactive, immersive versions of stories from the New York Times. 

“We’re particularly interested in the engagement side,” Yang said. “That’s what Dolby’s business is about.” Yang and his collaborators have been showing the immersive stories to test subjects while collecting data on heart rate and eye movement.

These collaborations have resulted in several published papers. The code developed is released as open source, enabling anyone to use it. Meanwhile, Dolby scientists can tailor the code for their own needs. 

“We deliberately look for ambitious, farther-looking projects," said Shriram Revankar, senior vice president of Dolby’s Advanced Technology Group.

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"These are the risks that academia can take and do well in, because they have constant access to new students and other faculty."

At its core, the partnership is about developing relationships among faculty, students, and Dolby, according to Humphrey Shi.

"The students get experience in solving real-world problems for an international corporation, and Dolby’s researchers expand their knowledge through connecting with Tech faculty," said Shi, an associate professor in interactive computing whose research has also been supported by Dolby.

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