# Retinal Neurovascular Patterning in Preterm Infants

> **NIH NIH K23** · DUKE UNIVERSITY · 2021 · $183,929

## Abstract

Candidate:  I  am currently  a  vitreoretinal fellow  with  the  long-term  career  goal of  
becoming  an  independent clinician-scientist and a recognized leader in the field of retinal neurovascular development and 
pediatric retinal imaging. My research agenda is focused on investigating retinal neuronal and 
vascular development and disease using cutting-edge bedside noninvasive OCT imaging. I have a PhD 
in neuroscience and a longstanding interest in the development of neuronal and vascular systems. My 
immediate career goal in the current proposal is to perform simultaneous imaging of the retinal 
neuronal and vascular microstructures in the macula and retinal periphery in preterm infants, and 
correlate these changes in preterm infants with retinopathy of prematurity (ROP). With a K23 
Mentored Patient-Oriented Research Career Development Award, I will acquire additional didactic 
training in clinical research and mentored research experience in pediatric retinal development, 
retinal imaging, photonics, clinical research and responsible conduct of research.

Environment: The mentorship and expertise of the advisory committee, the extensive resources at 
Duke Eye Center and Department of Biomedical Engineering at Duke University, and the significant 
institutional commitment will provide me with the support needed to transition successfully into an 
independent research career.

Research: The focus of this proposal is to test the hypothesis that retinal neuronal and vascular 
development are coordinated, and vascular pathology parallels defective neuronal development during 
ROP. We will assess simultaneously retinal neuronal and vascular development using advanced retinal 
optical coherence tomography (OCT) imaging technologies. In Specific Aim 1, we will implement a 
neonatal OCT research system to capture macular vascular development and analyze the correlation 
between neuronal and vascular development in preterm infants. Specifically, we will assess the size 
and vascular pattern of the foveal avascular zone and correlate with the foveal pit depth and 
retinal microstructures. In Specific Aim 2, we will investigate pathological neurovascular 
patterning in the retinal periphery in infants with ROP, and identify earlier subclinical features 
that may predict treatment-requiring disease. In Specific Aim 3, we will delineate factors and/or 
systemic diseases that affect retinal neurovascular development and patterning in preterm infants, 
such as stage of ROP, presence of plus disease, presence of macular edema of prematurity, presence 
of attenuated nerve fiber layers, ROP treatments (anti-VEGF or laser treatments) and systemic 
factors such as hypoxia. This body of work, which will constitute the basis of an R01 grant, will 
advance our understanding of retinal neurovascular patterning and pathogenesis of pediatric retinal 
vascular diseases such as ROP.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10186752
- **Project number:** 5K23EY028227-05
- **Recipient organization:** DUKE UNIVERSITY
- **Principal Investigator:** Xi Chen
- **Activity code:** K23 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2021
- **Award amount:** $183,929
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2017-09-30 → 2022-06-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10186752

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10186752, Retinal Neurovascular Patterning in Preterm Infants (5K23EY028227-05). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-23 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10186752. Licensed CC0.

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