Ocular Research Tissue: From the Eye Bank to the Researcher

W. Daniel Stamer, PhD, currently serves as the Joseph A.C. Wadsworth Professor of Ophthalmology and Professor of Biomedical Engineering at Duke University.  Professor Stamer was educated at the University of Arizona, earning his bachelors of science in Molecular and Cellular Biology in 1990 and doctorate in Pharmacology and Toxicology in 1996.  He completed two research fellowships: the first with Dr. Andrea Yool in electrophysiology and the second with Dr. David Epstein in glaucoma/cell biology.  Professor Stamer started his research program in 1998 at the University of Arizona, where he remained for 14 years, rising through the ranks to full Professor and Director of Ophthalmic Research. He joined the faculty at the Duke Eye Center in 2011.  Notable recent accomplishments include the Rudin Prize for Glaucoma in 2012, the Research to Prevent Blindness Senior Scientific Investigator Award in 2013, election as ARVO trustee in 2015 and ARVO president in 2019. He currently holds prominent editorial positions in three premier ophthalmology journals: as Editor-in-Chief for the Journal of Ocular Pharmacology and Therapeutics, member of editorial board Investigative Ophthalmology and Visual Science and executive editor of Experimental Eye Research.

The primary research focus of the Stamer laboratory is to understand the molecular and cellular mechanisms that regulate conventional outflow such that novel targets can be identified, validated and used for the development of therapeutics that target/modify the diseased tissue responsible for elevated intraocular pressure in glaucoma. Professor Stamer has been working in the area of glaucoma research for the past 25 years, pioneering cellular, tissue, organ culture and murine model systems for use by his laboratory and others to study conventional outflow physiology and pharmacology. His laboratory has worked closely with industry, assisting in the development/pre-clinical testing of several new classes of glaucoma drugs that target the diseased conventional outflow pathway responsible for ocular hypertension.

Research progress by the Stamer laboratory group is documented in over 140 peer-reviewed primary contributions to the literature and two dozen reviews/book chapters/editorials.  

Sung Lee has been the Research Coordinator at the Lions Gift of Sight for the past 7 years. Primary duties include providing customized processing of research eye tissues and perform research projects under the guidance of the Lions Gift of Sight medical director.

David Ammar, PhD, is the scientific director at Lions Eye Institute for Transplant and Research (LEITR). Dr. Ammar received his bachelor's degree in biochemistry and his doctorate in biological chemistry. He has held a number of academic positions and has been with LEITR since 2018.

Kristen McCoy, MA, CEBT, CTBS, was appointed to Technical Director in 2008 when she assumed the responsibility for corporate training and is currently the Vice President of Surgical Applications for Miracles in Sight. Kristen holds a master's degree in health and humans' services administration from St. Mary's University in Minnesota, a bachelor’s degree from the University of Dayton and is a Certified Eye Bank Technician (CEBT) and Certified Tissue Bank Specialist (CTBS). She has served on numerous Eye Bank Association of America (EBAA) committees and sub-committees over the years including the Technician Education Committee and the Certification Board. Kristen also served as a faculty member of the Technician Education Seminar for eight years.