Glaucoma foundation's research funding model shows results

In the great search for new ways to fund disease research, the Glaucoma Research Foundation may be on to something. Call it the know-how of strangers.
The San Francisco-based organization nine years ago pulled together four young researchers from around the country — one from Nashville, another in Seattle, one in Baltimore and another in Salt Lake City — who had never worked together before and had only tangentially looked at glaucoma. Their disparate work centered on molecular biology, genetics, neurobiology and developmental genetics.
Initially staked by $85,000 per lab per year from the foundation — a sizable amount for researchers getting their careers up and running — they essentially were told, “Let’s see what you can do.”