Research opportunities in vision: a report of the U.S.-Indo workshops on collaborative research.

This article reports on two workshops in 2005, one in India and the other in the United States, to promote international research in vision and ophthalmology. The workshops were held in February and April and spanned a total of 7 days. They were sponsored by the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology (ARVO) and funded through a cooperative agreement with the National Eye Institute (NEI) of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and by the Department of Biotechnology (DBT), Government of India. The goal of the workshops, attended by leaders in eye and vision research from the two nations, was to identify and promote U.S.-Indo collaborations and research opportunities to accelerate the ability to understand, prevent, treat, and cure vision disorders. Five core research areas were considered: molecular genetics of eye disease; clinical aspects of genetic eye disease; harmonization of clinical measurement techniques and terminology; translational physiology; and identification, development, and exchange of research resources. It is hoped that, by providing information about the workshops with the larger eye and vision research community, additional ideas and collaborations will emerge. A rapid outcome of the workshops was the signing, on August 24, 2005, of a United States-India Statement of Intent for collaboration on expansion of vision research. The agreement was signed by India’s Secretary of the DBT, Maharaj K. Bhan, and the NIH’s director, Elias A. Zerhouni. Quite simply, the countries officially agreed to combine their vast biomedical and clinical expertise and resources in ophthalmology, for reducing the burden of vision disability and blindness. In addition to joint research projects, the parties foresee opportunities for research training, workshops, and exchanges of scientists, scientific information, and biological materials. The agreement marks a more than 20-year history of successful teamwork between Indian and U.S. scientists and institutions in the prevention of blindness. One of the first collaborations was an evaluation of cryoablation and argon laser photocoagulation for Eales’ disease, in which early photocoagulation was found to help prevent vitreous hemorrhage. Several collaborations have since occurred between Johns Hopkins University and Indian researchers. These include studies of the role of low doses of vitamin A on infant blindness and mortality; the effect of vitamin A in the perinatal period; the dose–response and adverse effects of mitomycin C as an adjunctive agent in glaucoma filtration surgery; the learning curve of physicians training in phakoemulsification for treatment of cataract; and the Andra Pradesh and Aravind Comprehensive Eye Survey (1994) evaluating the causes of blindness, prevalence of various eye diseases, and utilization of eye care in southern India. In addition, the University of Iowa helped develop a human genetics laboratory in India about 5 years ago and the Proctor Foundation for Research in Ophthalmology began collaborations in India in 1998 for evaluating the role of antioxidants in retarding or preventing cataract. Other collaborations have occurred in the fields of lens biochemistry (Venkat Reddy of Oakland University, Rochester, MI, and Seetarama Bhat of the National Institute of Nutrition [NIN], Hyderabad); night blindness (Barbara Underwood of NIH and the staff of NIN); clinical ophthalmology (between L. V. Prasad Eye Institute [LVPEI], Hyderabad and NEI); and cataract biology (between D. Balasubramanian and Mohan Rao of the Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology [CCMB], Hyderabad and J. S. Zigler of NEI). Contacts have also been established between two centers in India (Sankara Nethralaya [SN] in Chennai and the Aravind Eye Hospital [AEH] in Madurai) and colleagues in the United States. In the late 1980s, a bilateral United States-India case–control study of age-related cataracts was initiated between NEI and the R. P. Centre for Ophthalmic Sciences (RPC), All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi, leading to two important publications. We believe that with the formalization of this expanded vision health alliance between the United States and India, the future of eye health worldwide takes a major step forward. What follows is a brief overview of research and clinical resources in vision in the United States and India, background information about the workshops and its participants, reports on the five core research areas discussed at the workshops, summaries of opportunities for collaboration, additional details about assets in ophthalmology in India and the United States, and information for others who would like to become involved. Readers who are interested mainly in the five core research areas will find them in the section, “Structuring the Workshops.”