Advancing Research Safely

2020 was a banner year for research at Kellogg. This Annual Report highlights some of our new research, which include 7 new R0-1 NIH grants and major foundation grants. All are designed to provide insight into how best to treat, cure or prevent vision loss, ranging from bench laboratory experiments to clinical trials to health services and implementation science.

The world of research—like every other aspect of our lives—was significantly impacted by COVID-19. Laboratories and clinical studies were suddenly paused for nearly 3 months, except for urgent situations and care for patients in therapeutic trials. A longstanding culture of continuous safety improvement enabled Kellogg to quickly adopt new protocols to protect our researchers and their vital work—and then to ramp up when state restrictions were eased.

Phillip Kish, Ph.D., Laboratory Research Specialist Lead in Ophthalmology & Visual Sciences and Lab Safety Liaison for the department, built on the culture of safety he and his safety predecessor, Mohammad Othman, Ph.D., helped develop. Prior to COVID-19, Dr. Kish would regularly visit with laboratories to discuss concerns and highlight safety opportunities. When laboratories were closed, Dr. Kish continued his inspections to maintain the safety and function of essential laboratory equipment and research materials. By making sure this equipment and warning systems remained operational, he ensured that no disasters befell Kellogg laboratories and that operations would be able to efficiently and safely resume upon their reopening.

“There is an incredible amount of maintenance needed by laboratories to continue to function,” says Dr. Kish. “Our goal was to ensure that every lab would be able to resume work with a minimum of preparations and to ensure that precious and sometimes irreplaceable samples were not lost due to equipment failures.” Once restrictions were eased, increasing lab operations in phases presented another set of challenges, says Dr. Kish.

“We needed to follow the guidelines and protocols set by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and Environmental Health Services at the University, as well as Medical School guidelines,” he says. This included analyzing the number of people the labs could realistically hold while maintaining appropriate physical distancing. These new practices often resulted in innovative ways of scheduling, changes which will continue. “It’s outstanding how well everyone at Kellogg has complied with best practices,” says Dr. Kish, with recognition by Michigan Medicine for success in keeping the labs safe while pursuing our research endeavors.

As Kellogg moves forward, two new stem cell research rooms are under construction to help our scientists advance our mission to treat, cure and prevent vision loss. The new facilities will be an ideal environment to discover new treatments for eye diseases such as choroideremia and macular degeneration.