The lab of Berkeley Optometry’s Dr. Karsten Gronert together with researchers in the Molecular Cell Biology Department at UC Berkeley and at Washington University have been awarded a Synergy grant by the Kenneth Rainin Foundation. Funding will support a collaborative project aimed at improving the prediction and prevention of Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD). The $300,000 grant will be shared by Russell Vance, PhD, University of California, Berkeley; Karsten Gronert, PhD, University of California, Berkeley; and Jakob von Moltke, PhD, University of Washington, for The role of inflammasomes and tuft cells in eicosanoid release by intestinal epithelial cells.
The focus of this research is aimed at identifying the cause and potential therapeutic targets for Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD), the concepts being researched — specifically, lipid mediators as key regulators of immune responses — are also the central research focus of Dr. Gronert’s Eye Research Program that is studying the role of lipid mediators in Dry Eye Diseases, Uveitis and Glaucoma.