# BLR&D Research Career Scientist Award Application (Renewal)

> **NIH VA IK6** · HARRY S. TRUMAN MEMORIAL VA HOSPITAL · 2024 · —

## Abstract

Project Summary/Abstract
 This competitive renewal application of my RCS program is focused on a major health problem of vision
loss caused by the traumatic eye and brain injury. Both, traumatic eye and brain injuries lead to vision loss and
ocular tissue damage that affects veterans’ health and quality of life immensely. Eye and brain trauma are the
major cause of vision loss among our veterans and troops engaged in Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF),
Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF), New Dawn, and fighting terrorism. Despite using protective gears, eye injuries
has risen from 2% in World Wars to 13% in OIF and OEF. Presently, >167,000 Veterans are legally blind, 1.5
million have significantly compromised vision, and >7000 veterans becoming blind each year. Both, traumatic
eye and brain injuries are becoming more common among Veterans, active military personnel, and civilians.
Also, the population of elderly Veterans continues to increase, and therefore development of novel molecular
therapies has become a vital priority of VA research mission.
 Our research is focused on studying the impact of traumatic eye and brain injuries on vision loss. Our
projects are focused towards developing novel nanomedicine and gene-based therapies for treating corneal
fibrosis/scarring, uncovering pathophysiologic mechanisms leading to corneal damage, and advancing the
mechanistic understanding of corneal wound healing and diabetic retinopathy. The long-range goal of our
research is to establish novel efficacious and safe molecular therapies to treat blindness and restore vision in
humans and service dogs. We are pursuing four specific projects to achieve our immediate and long-range goals.
Project-1 establishes how traumatic eye and brain injuries lead to significant eye defects and blindness acutely
and transpire over time by evaluating the impact of chemical/surgical injury on vision loss. Project-2 elucidates the
role of epigenetic mechanisms and signaling pathways in the pathogenesis of corneal fibrosis (also called haze
or scarring) and other ocular disorders. Project-3 aims to develop novel nanomedicine and gene therapy
approaches for treating corneal fibrosis/opacity and restoring vision using established human in vitro, human
organ culture, and in vivo animal (rabbit, pig and rodent) models that mimic pathological conditions seen in
human patients. Project-4 is focused on studying the pathogenesis processes linked to chemical toxicity and
developing multimodal topical ophthalmic drops to mitigate acute and chronic toxicity caused by warfare and
toxic chemicals, sulfur mustard, acrolein, chlorine, and hydrogen sulfide.
 Our laboratory has been very productive during the current RCS funding, and over the years with 140+
peer review journal research articles, 350+ scientific presentations, 10 book chapters, and 47 invited
distinguished speaker talks at prestigious institutions including the Harvard Medical School and global scientific
meetings including the World...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10881640
- **Project number:** 5IK6BX005646-04
- **Recipient organization:** HARRY S. TRUMAN MEMORIAL VA HOSPITAL
- **Principal Investigator:** Rajiv Ravindra Mohan
- **Activity code:** IK6 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** VA
- **Fiscal year:** 2024
- **Award amount:** —
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2021-04-01 → 2028-03-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10881640

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10881640, BLR&D Research Career Scientist Award Application (Renewal) (5IK6BX005646-04). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-25 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10881640. Licensed CC0.

---

*[NIH grants dataset](/datasets/nih-grants) · CC0 1.0*