John Fingert, associate professor of ophthalmology and visual sciences and faculty member in the Interdisciplinary Graduate Program in Genetics, is searching for a better understanding of the causes of glaucoma, a disease of the optic nerve.

Fingert’s laboratory is identifying glaucoma genes by studying families with many glaucoma sufferers as well as glaucoma sufferers who are unrelated to one another.

“Glaucoma is an important cause of visual disability and blindness that affects millions of Americans and is caused at least in part by heredity and by the action of genes,” Fingert said. “We are dedicated to identifying these genes and investigating their role in the development of eye disease with the ultimate goal of preventing vision loss by improving the diagnosis and treatment of glaucoma.”

Fingert routinely collaborates with other research scientists at the UI.

“Through joint efforts with scientists in many departments, I have been able to extend my research in directions that would have been out of reach without their involvement,” Fingert said.