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East Tennessee State University’s Dr. Mark Kleinman, a professor in the Quillen College of Medicine’s Department of Surgery, recently received a $2.6 million grant from the National Institutes of Health to study age-related macular degeneration.

Across the United States, millions of people struggle with the effects of age-related macular degeneration, the leading cause of permanent vision loss worldwide.

East Tennessee State University’s Dr. Mark Kleinman wants to change that — and a $2.6 million grant from the National Institutes of Health is making it possible.

Kleinman, a vitreoretinal specialist and professor in the Quillen College of Medicine, will study how certain proteins — called histones — regulate the retinal pigment epithelium (RPE), a layer of cells in the eye that allow people to see clearly. His research, titled “Histone Expression in the Aging RPE,” is funded through the NIH’s National Eye Institute.

“This will be the first scientific investigation to analyze the expression signatures of those proteins, utilizing cutting-edge molecular techniques,” said Kleinman, a professor in Quillen’s Department of Surgery and a member of ETSU’s Center of Excellence in Inflammation, Infectious Disease and Immunity.

“Our lab will be working with world-class collaborators at Vanderbilt, the University of Illinois and the University of Southern California in a teams-based approach to perform this work,” he continued. “These foundational data will then be utilized to examine the efficacy of stabilizing histone expression profiles and epigenetic marks in novel experimental models to reverse cellular aging in the human retina.”

His research seeks to determine whether the loss of histones speeds up aging in the eye that leads to cell damage — commonly referred to as age-related macular degeneration (AMD).

Understanding the molecular mechanisms that trigger age-related AMD is critical to developing potential therapeutic treatments. Kleinman’s theory is that by targeting histone regulatory mechanisms, they may be able to treat this debilitating condition.

Perhaps few people are better suited to lead such a study than Kleinman, a leading vitreoretinal expert and surgeon credited with co-discovering the specific role certain inflammatory mediators in the body play in the progression of both types of AMD.

“This project is the culmination of nearly 20 years of studying retinal aging during which we have discovered a novel fundamental age-related molecular mechanism for retinal cell death,” said Kleinman. “The knowledge we will obtain through this scientific investigation will identify critical targets to maintain retinal health in aging that may be applied to other age-related diseases as well.

“It is my hope that these efforts will significantly impact the future of aging biology, therapeutics and achieving a healthy lifespan for our aging population.”

Kleinman is one of many ETSU faculty members who produce cutting-edge scholarship on critical health issues that affect people in this region and beyond — one of the many reasons ETSU is well-positioned as the flagship institution of Appalachia.

Renowned for its commitment and dedication to training physicians to practice in rural and underserved areas, the Quillen College of Medicine has also made its mark as a research institution, regularly receiving significant grant funding to investigate regional health issues.

In 2024, researchers in the Quillen College of Medicine secured millions in grant funding to better understand sepsis and research a novel treatment for heart failure.

To learn more about Quillen College of Medicine, visit etsu.edu/com/.