#  Usher Syndrome Research Collaboration Receives $1 Million Blavatnik Therapeutics Challenge Award 

 





November 10, 2021

 

 

 The labs of [Artur A. Indzhykulian, MD, PhD](https://researchers.masseyeandear.org/details/314/artur-indzhykulian), Assistant Professor of Otolaryngology–Head and Neck Surgery at Harvard Medical School (HMS), and [David Corey, PhD](https://neuro.hms.harvard.edu/faculty-staff/david-corey), Bertarelli Professor of Translational Medical Science in the Blavatnik Institute of HMS, have [recently received a $1 million Blavatnik Therapeutics Challenge Award](https://hms.harvard.edu/news/catalyzing-new-treatments) for their collaborative research on the treatment of Usher syndrome 1F, a rare – albeit debilitating – form of Usher syndrome.

 The Blavatnik Therapeutics Challenge Awards are designed to accelerate basic science advances into new, frontline therapeutics, [according to HMS](https://btca.hms.harvard.edu/). Now in its second year of existence, the awards are made possible thanks to a transformative gift from the [Blavatnik Family Foundation](http://blavatnikfoundation.org/), which provides award recipients with $1 million over two years.

 Usher syndrome 1F is a rare hereditary disease that results in profound deafness and lack of balance at birth, and blindness that progresses over time. Mutations to a single gene are responsible for the disease. Dr. Corey, principal investigator of the award-winning project, will use the funds to collaborate with Dr. Indzhykulian, who also serves as an assistant scientist in the Eaton-Peabody Laboratories at Mass Eye and Ear, on developing a gene-therapy technique that would restore sensory function. The technique will aim to shrink a copy of the missing gene into a size small enough to fit inside a vector, which would then replace the faulty gene with the shortened copy.

 *[See the full list of 2021 Blavatnik Therapeutics Challenge Award recipients.](https://hms.harvard.edu/news/catalyzing-new-treatments)*



 

 

 



 

 

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