Team SNAPS
Team SNAPS
Website: SNAPS - Gemstone Research Team
Instagram: @team.snaps 
Introduction:
Glaucoma is one of the leading causes of irreversible blindness, affecting millions of people worldwide. Current treatments can slow the disease, but they cannot restore vision once it is lost. Our team aims to help change the current state of research by investigating why certain eye cells survive glaucoma and how this knowledge could guide the development of future vision-protecting therapies.
About Us:
We are a group of 11 sophomore undergraduate students in the Gemstone Honors Program. We are researching the resilience of intrinsically photosensitive retinal ganglion cells (ipRGCs) to better understand why some of these cells survive glaucomatous damage. Our goal is to identify genetic and cellular factors that could lead to new therapeutic strategies aimed at preserving vision and slowing the progression of glaucoma.
Our Timeline:
Our Objective:
Over the next three years, our goal is to better understand why certain cells in the eye survive glaucoma and use this knowledge to aid in guiding the development of new, vision-protecting treatments. This work requires specialized equipment, laboratory materials, and long hours of experimentation that resources we can only secure with your support. We aim to raise $2,000 to begin purchasing the materials needed for our first stages of research.
By donating to our campaign, you will be directly supporting efforts to advance the field of glaucoma research and vision-restoring therapies, helping move us closer to safer, more effective options for preventing vision loss in millions of people worldwide.
Gifts in support of the University of Maryland are accepted and managed by the University of Maryland College Park Foundation, Inc., an affiliated 501(c)(3) organization authorized by the Board of Regents. Contributions to the University of Maryland are tax-deductible as allowed by law. Please see your tax advisor for details.
$10
Basic Lab Supplies
A gift at this level helps cover essential consumables such as gloves, microtubes, and lab safety materials used in our daily experiments.
$25
Mouse Housing Support
A gift at this level provides 25 days of housing for one research mouse, helping us maintain healthy conditions for our experiments.
$50
Imaging for ipRGC Analysis
A gift at this level covers one hour of confocal imaging, which we rely on to visualize GFP-positive ipRGCs and assess optic nerve damage.
$100
Research Mouse Costs
A gift at this level helps fund the specialized Cdh3-GFP mice we use to study ipRGC survival in glaucoma models.
$500
Optic Nerve Imaging Equipment
A gift at this level contributes to our biggest expense: the Optical Coherence Tomography (OCT) system needed to track optic nerve integrity and evaluate our findings.