# Investigating oxygen metabolism in diabetic retinopathy

> **NIH NIH R01** · NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY · 2020 · $456,523

## Abstract

PROJECT SUMMARY
Diabetic retinopathy (DR) is a leading cause of blindness in the US and one of the major complications of both
Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes. Although DR is widely accepted to be an ischemia-driven disease, the current
diagnosis and grading of DR severity is based solely on anatomic alterations such as the quantification of
abnormal retinal microvasculature in non-proliferative disease or angiogenesis in proliferative stages. As a
result, retinal impairment is irreversible in most DR patients when diagnosed, largely due to the lack of
technology to quantify retinal ischemia and the lack of knowledge of the underlying mechanism of retinal
ischemia.
 This proposal aims to investigate retinal ischemia in early diabetes using a novel optical coherence
tomography technology, which offers the capability to quantify metabolic rate of oxygen (MRO2) in the retina for
the first time. We refer to this new technology as visible-light optical coherence tomography or vis-OCT. We
seek to identify when MRO2 alterations initially occur, the causes of MRO2 alterations, and whether intervention
of MRO2 affects the development of DR in a unique Type 1 mouse model. At the end of the project period, we
will have 1) established a time line and mechanistic knowledge of retinal MRO2 changes during the
development and progression of DR and 2) fully-optimized the vis-OCT system that is ready to be translated
for the next-stage patient testing.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10004038
- **Project number:** 5R01EY026078-05
- **Recipient organization:** NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY
- **Principal Investigator:** NADER SHEIBANI
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $456,523
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2016-09-01 → 2022-08-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10004038

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10004038, Investigating oxygen metabolism in diabetic retinopathy (5R01EY026078-05). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-29 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10004038. Licensed CC0.

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