Our Consortium

The Mary Tyler Moore Vision Initiative (MTM Vision), in partnership with the University of Michigan (U-M) and the Joslin Diabetes Center, an affiliate of Harvard Medical School, has organized a global collaboration of experts to join the fight against vision loss from Diabetic Retinal Disease (DRD). To amplify their efforts, MTM Vision has established a public-private Consortium at U-M’s Caswell Diabetes Institute and Kellogg Eye Center. 

The MTM Vision Consortium unites innovators from universities, foundations, and pharmaceutical and biotech companies in the pre-competitive space, offering members access to two essential research assets: the MTM Vision Ocular Biorepository and Resouce Center (MTMV Vision-BRC) at U-M and the MTM Vision Clinical Endpoints and Disease Biomarkers Data Resource (MTM Vision-CER). These resources enable human tissue examination, the conduct of select clinical studies, and the aggregation of results of others in an accessible “data lake,” identifying and validating new molecular and cellular therapeutic targets and novel biomarkers and clinical endpoints. The longitudinal clinical data, retinal images, phenotypic data, visual function information, quality of life measures, and retinal physiology data provided by MTM Vision will accelerate new drug development, including by informing the establishment of new regulatory pathways for drug approvals by the FDA. These resources are critical to translating advances in laboratory science into improved patient outcomes.

Boehringer Ingelheim is the first pharmaceutical company to join the Consortium. Their involvement brings the Consortium closer to achieving its Phase I goals, which include:

• Expanding the number of human ocular tissue and fluid samples available through the MTM Vision-BRC to enhance therapeutic drug target identification and validation.
• Completing our first two clinical studies with the MTM Vision-CER, evaluating novel endpoints of visual function. 

Boehringer Ingelheim’s scientific and strategic input will help define future research directions and attract new Consortium members. In addition to their founding membership in the MTM Vision Consortium, Boehringer Ingelheim will support the University of Michigan’s development of a new DRD Patient Reported Outcomes (PRO) instrument in partnership with MTM Vision and led by Dr. K. Thiran Jayasundera, Associate Professor of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences at the University of Michigan.

Tom Gardner, M.D., M.S., (Professor of Ophthalmology & Visual Sciences, University of Michigan Medical School) is Director of the MTM Vision Consortium and MTM Vision Co-Scientific Director.