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In October 2025, the All May See Foundation awarded $60,000 through its Faculty Peer Reviewed Research Awards Program to Dr. Wenhao (Henk) Shang of the Tyson Kim Lab (pictured to the right) for his project: Neurovascular Control of Retinal Perfusion: Investigating Activity-Dependent Blood Flow Regulation by Perivascular Neurons.
Now underway, this innovative research explores a fundamental question in vision science: how do nerve cells and blood vessels communicate in the retina, and what happens when that communication breaks down?
Glaucoma and related optic nerve diseases affect more than 80 million people worldwide and remain leading causes of irreversible blindness. These conditions damage retinal ganglion cells (RGCs), the neurons responsible for transmitting visual signals from the eye to the brain. Many patients with glaucoma also experience abnormalities in retinal blood flow, yet the biological connection between nerve degeneration and vascular dysfunction has remained unclear.
Recent collaborative work between the Tyson Kim Lab and the Xin Duan Lab led to an important discovery. A specialized subset of retinal RGCs physically connect with nearby blood vessels during development and help shape the retinal vascular network.
Dr. Shang’s project builds on this breakthrough by investigating whether these same neurons continue to regulate blood flow in adulthood.
Using advanced imaging technology that visualizes blood flow at the cellular level in living eyes, combined with precise laser techniques to selectively remove individual neurons, Dr. Shang is testing whether loss of these RGCs disrupts retinal circulation. If these neurons serve as active regulators of perfusion, their dysfunction could reduce oxygen and nutrient delivery and accelerate retinal damage in glaucoma.
Current treatments primarily focus on lowering eye pressure or protecting neurons. They do not address potential failures in communication between nerve cells and blood vessels. Understanding how RGCs regulate retinal perfusion could reveal new therapeutic targets aimed at preserving both neural and vascular health.
Through early-stage investments like this Faculty Peer Reviewed Research Award, the All May See Foundation continues to catalyze high-impact discovery at UCSF Ophthalmology, advancing research that may lead to future sight-saving therapies.