Alcon Research Institute Awardees
David H. Abramson
Memorial Sloan - Kettering Cancer Center
David H. Abramson, M.D., FACS is the first Chief of the Ophthalmic Oncology Service at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer center, where he is a tenured professor in Surgery, Radiation Oncology and Pediatrics. He is also Professor of Ophthalmology at Weill-Cornell Medical Center in New York City. His areas of interest are primarily ophthalmic oncology with special interest in retinoblastoma and uveal melanoma. He is a clinician-scientist who runs the world's longest continuous (and largest) retinoblastoma center, which began with Algernon Reese nearly 100 years ago. In addition to novel approaches for treating retinoblastoma, his research has studied second cancers in retinoblastoma, parsing out the effect of gene and environment in the genesis of these cancers.
John V. Forrester
Shared award with Andrew David Dick
University of Aberdeen, Division of Applied Medicine
Andrew David Dick
Shared Award John V. Forrester
University of Bristol, Bristol Eye Hospital
His group's work focuses on how the retina responds to injury, inflammation and degeneration. This covers areas which include:
• The control of immune responses in the retina, which includes the interaction with microglia and inhibitory signals mediated by neuronal CD200 expression
• Autoimmune responses within the eye and brain, by studying both T cell and macrophage responses within the tissue during experimental retinal and CNS autoimmunity
• Microglial and macrophage behavior during retinal degeneration by studying experimental models of photoreceptor degeneration
• Retinal remodeling by studying the interaction of microglia, Muller cells and retinal progenitor cells
• Development of immunomodulatory agents for the treatment of uveitis, investigated in the experimental model of uveitis
For more information please visit: http://www.bristol.ac.uk/infection-immunity/people/person/16955
Frank G. Holz
University of Bohn, Department of Ophthalmology
Specific research interests:
• Pathogenesis, prognostic factors, biomarkers and treatment of age-related macular degeneration
• Phenotyping retinal diseases by functional and imaging technologies including confocal scanning laser ophthalmoscopy (cSLO), fundus autofluroescence imaging, spectral domain optical coherence tomography imaging
• Development and implementation of molecular imaging methods for macular and diffuse retinal diseases
• Disease pathways in macular degeneration at the level of the retinal pigment epithelium
Botond M. Roska
Friedrich Miescher Institute for Biomedical Research
The function of the brain can be studied at many different hierarchical levels. We are interested in how neurons interact in local neuronal networks to compute behaviorally relevant functions. We use the mammalian retina as a model system because the input, the dynamically changing light pattern, is well defined and can be easily manipulated experimentally. Moreover, the activity of each neuron can be recorded during retinal light stimulation. Our experimental approach is inter-disciplinary: We combine physiological, molecular, viral and computational approaches to reveal the structure and function of retinal circuits. We use molecular techniques to genetically identify cell types in the network and label them using transgenic technologies. The connections of labeled cells are revealed using trans-synaptic viruses. We study the function of a genetically isolated circuit with physiological, imaging and computational tools. Apart from gaining basic insights into neural circuit function, the lab is also interested in using the knowledge about cell types, circuits and computations to restore visual function in retinitis pigmentosa by optogenetic approaches.
Anand Swaroop
National Eye Institute, NIH
We are interested in defining regulatory networks underlying retinal development, delineating genetic defects or susceptibility factors for retinal and macular diseases, and designing knowledge-based treatment paradigms.
Samuel Wu
Baylor College of Medicine, Cullen Eye Institute
Professor Wu's research is focused to elucidate detailed molecular and synaptic mechanisms underlying retinal function and eye diseases. His lab pioneers investigations of rod and cone photoreceptor interactions, parallel information processing pathways in the retina, and how individual ion channels, neurotransmitter receptors and gene products mediate retinal function and dysfunction. By analyzing mutant and disease mouse models (such as those for rod-cone dystrophies, congenital stationary night blindness, Bardet Biedl syndrome and glaucoma), his group studies how various gene products affect retinal function and synaptic circuitry in normal and disease states, and develop gene therapy strategies for rescuing retinal neurons from degenerative processes associated with various types of eye disorders.