CHICAGO—Prevent Blindness America (PBA) announced the recipients of its 2010 Investigator Awards, research grants awarded to those projects that seek to put an end to unnecessary vision loss and blindness. Recipients were selected from Childrens Hospital Los Angeles and the University of California, Los Angeles and chosen by a panel of experts from the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology (ARVO), according to the organization.

“Supporting vision research has always been part of the foundation for Prevent Blindness America,” said Hugh R. Parry, president and CEO of PBA. “With the help of our many generous donors, we are proud to award each of our Investigator Award recipients this year with $25,000 to help put an end to unnecessary vision loss.”

PBA has awarded a 2010 Investigator Award for the research project “The Geographic Distribution of Optic Nerve Hypoplasia (ONH) in the United States” to Mark Borchert, MD, at Childrens Hospital Los Angeles. The purpose of Borchert’s research project is to prevent vision loss from ONH by studying disease risk factors so that at-risk mothers may be identified for targeting prevention efforts.

Sophie X. Deng, MD,PhD, at the University of California, Los Angeles, was also awarded a 2010 Investigator Award for her project “Diagnosis and Staging of Limbal Stem Cell Deficiency (LCSD) Using in vivo Laser Scanning Confocal Microscopy.” Deng’s study seeks to create a sensitive and accurate test to detect the early signs of the condition and classify the severity of LCSD.

As the nation’s oldest volunteer eye health and safety organization, over the years, PBA has awarded more than $1 million to eye and vision research projects. For more on the PBA Investigator Awards, or for information on eye diseases and other eye conditions, call (800) 331-2020 or visit www.preventblindness.org.