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The discovery of a naturally-occurring mutation that caused impaired vision in four rhesus macaques at the California National Primate Research Center at the University of California, Davis, holds promise for restoring vision in the animals, and eventually, in humans.

If there is one thing that all of us who are in and around these buildings have in common, it’s that our animal companions are critically important to us, whether they are huge (like the Great Dane puppy I saw in the main receiving area five hours ago) or tiny (like the ancient, doddering Pomeranian wearing a cone who just hobbled out of another exam room in the ophthalmology department).

The National Eye Institute (NEI), part of the National Institutes of Health, has awarded grants to five multi-disciplinary teams to develop new disease models for a range of eye conditions. The program, which will award $30 million over 5 years, is part of the NEI Audacious Goals Initiative (AGI) for Regenerative Medicine. The AGI seeks to catalyze new treatments for blinding conditions like glaucoma, age-related macular degeneration, retinitis pigmentosa, and other degenerative eye diseases.

The MRT Vision Research team was invited to the San Francisco West Highland White Terrier Club meeting on September 22, 2018 where we performed ocular examinations and blood collections to further our knowledge of keratoconjunctivitis sicca or dry eye in this breed. Keratoconjunctivitis sicca is a disease whereby the aqueous portion of the tear film decreases causing irritation to the ocular surface and discomfort to both human and canine patients.