42 U.S.C. § 285i–1 — Clinical research on eye care and diabetes

(a) Program of grants: The Institute's Director, working with the Institute's advisory council, may give research grants to one or more Diabetes Eye Research Institutions. The grants support clinical and health services programs that: (1) give people with diabetes full eye care, including prevention, diagnosis, and treatment; (2) build better patient-care techniques through research; (3) help turn new research findings into real clinical practice; and (4) grow scientific knowledge about eyes and diabetes. (b) Use of funds: Grant money must go toward: (1) Finding the biochemical, cellular, and genetic causes of diabetic eye disease, and catching eye problems earlier. Eye doctors working on this must be trained in the newest molecular and cell-biology methods. (2) Building new technology, such as video-based tools, to (A) improve patient care, (B) study how the retina works and how diabetes affects it, and (C) judge the risk of diabetic eye disease and quickly test therapies that might prevent it. These tools must work both for testing on people and on animals. (3) Turning vision-research results into better care for patients with diabetic eye disease — this requires combining patient care, clinical research, and basic lab research. (4) Studying how well eye-care treatments and health-education programs actually work for patients with diabetic eye disease, including comparing different regions. (c) Authorized expenditures: Grant money awarded under subsection (a) may also pay for equipment needed for that research.