Research Team of Seven Joins UAMS Jones Eye Institute

By todd

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LITTLE ROCK – The Jones Eye Institute at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS) announced today a team of seven researchers headed by Nalini Bora, Ph.D., with grants of more than $2.25 million, has joined the institute’s Pat & Willard Walker Eye Research Center.


 


The team, with its three National Institute of Health grants, comes to Jones Eye Institute from the Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences of the Kentucky Lions Eye Center and University of Louisville in Louisville, Ky.


 


“We are delighted to have this entire team join us at the Pat and Willard Walker Eye Research Center,” said John Shock, professor and chairman of the Department of Ophthalmology and director of the Jones Eye Institute. “Our physicians and scientists at Jones Eye Institute are leaders in research that advances ophthalmic medicine and technology.”


 


Nalini Bora will serve as the director of the Pat and Willard Walker Eye Research Center. She received her Ph.D., from All India Institute of Medical Sciences in New Delhi, India. She is a tenured professor; has published articles, manuscripts and book chapters on a variety of ophthalmology research topics; and holds several patents. Bora’s NIH grants are titled “Idiopathic Anterior Uveitis and Type I Collagen” and “Complement System and the Eye”.


 


Puran Bora, Ph.D., received his graduate degree from Kumaun University in Nainital, India and completed a postdoctoral fellowship in the Department of Medicine/Cardiology, at St. Louis’ Washington University School of Medicine. Puran Bora is a professor and an active researcher writer and speaker, Bora’s NIH grant is titled “Complement System and Choroidal Neovascularization.”


 


Other team members include:


·        Purushottam Jha, a postdoctoral research associate who is a graduate of the University of Louisville School of Medicine and holds a M. Sc., from M.D. University in Rohtak, India


·        Qin Xu, M.D., a research associate and graduate of Zunyi Medical College, Zunyi, Guizhou province, People’s Republic of China


·        Sankaranarayanan Kaliappan, M.D., a research associate and graduate of Madras Medical College Research Institute, Chennai, India


·        Bharati Matta, research coordinator and a graduate of M.D. University, Rohtak, India


·        Balasubramanian Manickam, a graduate student candidate at the University of Louisville.


 


UAMS is the state’s only comprehensive academic health center, with five colleges, a graduate school, a medical center, five centers of excellence and a statewide network of regional centers. UAMS has about 2,320 students and 690 residents and is one of the state’s largest public employers with almost 9,000 employees. UAMS and its affiliates have an economic impact in Arkansas of $4.3 billion a year.


 


UAMS centers of excellence are the Arkansas Cancer Research Center, Harvey and Bernice Jones Eye Institute, Donald W. Reynolds Institute on Aging, Myeloma Institute for Research and Therapy and Jackson T. Stephens Spine & Neurosciences Institute.