Multidisciplinary team studies blinding diseases

Boston-The Schepens Eye Research Institute will form teams of basic and clinical researchers from many disciplines to study blinding eye diseases under a unique grant available from the National Institutes of Health (NIH).

The program, part of the "NIH Road-map" that seeks to find new ways to solve problems outside traditional research, will create a "think tank" of researchers from Schepens, Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary, Harvard Medical School, and other Harvard teaching hospitals. Researchers will include those studying Alzheimer's disease, rheumatoid arthritis, and heart disease.

The 3-year, nearly $2.2 million grant will fund the planning and piloting phase of what will ultimately be an interdisciplinary research center.

Researchers hope the work will turn up ideas for addressing incurable diseases in other areas of the body.