Dr Ashok Sharma (centre) with researchers Dr Lane Ulrich and Dr Kathryn Bollinger

US researchers have been given a US$1.5million grant from the US National Institute of Health to discover if proteins in tears can predict glaucoma.

While some patients do have classic high pressure inside the eye, the reality is others with glaucoma don't, said study lead Dr Ashok Sharma from Augusta University.

Over the next four years, Dr Sharma’s team will study the eye fluid of 200 patients with glaucoma and 400 with cataracts, who will serve as controls, and compare their findings with other clinical data to form a proteomic signature for glaucoma. The team will also create a protein database which can be accessed by other scientists for their own studies.