A professor of veterinary medicine has identified and named a previously unknown eye disease. Immune-Mediated Retinopathy, or IMR, causes loss of function in retinal cells and, in some cases, blindness. IMR is very similar to a previously known malady called Sudden Acquired Retinal Degeneration Syndrome or SARDS. Both diseases occur when the dog produces auto antibodies that attack the retinal cells. The antibodies mistake retinal cells for cancerous tumors or tissues that need to be destroyed.