While physicians have drugs to treat macular degeneration and are aware of the many risk factors (such as age and family history), there is still a lot about the underlying causes and how the disease progresses that is still unknown. One of the major hurdles that AMD research scientists face is they do not have animal or cellular models that fully represent the complexity of the disease in humans.

The DeAngelis Research Lab, located at the University of Buffalo, approaches this problem by studying actual human tissue. Dr. Margaret DeAngelis is responsible for developing the Utah Protocol whereby donated eyes of all types are collected and preserved within six hours of autopsy. The eyes are then carefully classified and meticulously dissected to isolate just the macula. Further DNA analysis allows them to study the retina at the level of single cells. That, in turn, is helping the scientists at the DeAngelis lab to better understand how AMD develops in humans and to create targeted treatments.