Thirteen multidisciplinary research teams with innovative projects to advance vision science have been awarded seed grants by the University of Colorado Anschutz Department of Ophthalmology’s Vision Science Research and Translation Accelerator (VISTA) Program.
Seed grants support early-stage research projects, helping researchers build evidence to compete for larger, competitive state and federal grants. Each of these VISTA grants, amounting to nearly $1.5 million in total funding, will support a team led by one of 13 principal investigators who represent seven different departments and divisions across the CU Anschutz campus. These teams include an additional 25 unique co-investigators, spanning a total of 10 departments and divisions.
The VISTA Program came to fruition through the ideation of Department Chair Naresh Mandava, MD, who tasked Joe Brzezinski, PhD, the department’s director of research, and ophthalmology professors Tianjing Li, MD, PhD, and Alan Palestine, MD, with establishing an impactful seed grant initiative. The program is supported in part by the historic $40 million gift the department received in 2025.
“I am grateful to our ophthalmology research leaders for taking the time to review so many terrific vision science proposals spanning the entire campus. This is an important step to leverage the amazing talent across CU Anschutz,” says Mandava.
“The Sue Anschutz-Rodgers Eye Center created this program to build a strong community of multidisciplinary teams that tackle vision science problems to discover ways to understand, detect, predict, and treat eye diseases,” Brzezinski adds. “One of the things I’m really excited about is how diverse the portfolio is. It’s bringing many different experts together to work on projects that span the research pipeline — including fundamental mechanism, translational, and clinical studies.”
Full story: CU Anschutz Department of Ophthalmology Awards 13 Seed Grants to Advance Vision Science Research
