UK Biology Researcher Receives Knights Templar Eye Foundation Career-Starter Grant

LEXINGTON, Ky. (May 17, 2019) — Oliver Voecking, a postdoctoral researcher in the University of Kentucky Department of Biology in the UK College of Arts and Sciences, recently received a Knights Templar Eye Foundation Career-Starter Grant for his retinal research with zebrafish. The Knights Templar presented Voecking with a check on campus in April. 

The Knights Templar Eye Foundation is committed to support research that can help launch the careers of clinical or basic researchers committed to the understanding, prevention and cure of vision-threatening diseases in infants and children. With the grant, Voecking will focus his research on analyzing the development of periocular mesenchyme (POM) cells in zebrafish, which are a group of cells that form in the front part of the eye. Voecking hopes to drastically increase the understanding of POM development, ultimately developing screening for anterior segment associated diseases, such as corneal dystrophy, cataracts and Axenfeld-Rieger syndrome.

"I am very grateful to the Knights Templar Eye Foundation for supporting my research,” Voecking said. “This financial help is giving me a great opportunity to continue my work on eye development."

Voecking is part of UK Biology Professor Jakub Famulski’s Zebrafish Retinal Development Lab which focuses on the use of zebrafish to analyze the mechanisms of epithelial sheet fusion during retinal development.

“This is a new and exciting direction for the lab and I am very proud and happy to see Oliver’s efforts recognized through this award," Famulski said. "I am sure this will be a launching point for Oliver’s very promising career.”

The Knights Templar Eye Foundation Career-Starter Grants are awarded each year to support clinical or basic research on conditions that can or may eventually be treated or prevented.