The Iowa Lions Foundation recently voted to award $30,000 of the $65,000 they are raising for the Iowa Lions Legacy Project to support the Iowa Lions Eye Bank research team. This funding allowed ILEB to purchase a much-needed piece of research equipment, the Chemidoc MP Imaging System. This is critical for our research into diabetes, which is rising in the population and can present complications for corneal transplants, both for diabetic donors and for diabetic recipients.
The Iowa Lions didn’t stop there. Currently, a total of $57,000 of the $65,000 pledged has been raised. The additional funds will be used by ILEB to purchase a Leica Fluorescence microscope and a qPCR machine. The Fluorescence microscope will allow our research team to visualize the organization and function of corneal cells and the protein expressions and locations within those cells, and the qPCR will allow us to look more specifically at the DNA within cells which will allow us to find characteristics and traits among different populations and whether or not someone is susceptible to certain diseases.
Individuals, districts, and clubs that each raised over $1000 for the Legacy Project were honored with a banner patch during the Iowa Lions Mid-Winter Convention. ILEB would like to send them a special thank you for all of their hard work.
Without the support of the Iowa Lions, breakthroughs like those we are working to achieve in our research with the equipment funded by the Lions, would be much more difficult to accomplish. We at the Iowa Lions Eye Bank and the University of Iowa Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences thank the Iowa Lions for their tireless contributions to the preservation and restoration of sight.