Working Together to Understand, Protect and Restore Vision
A UW–Madison research team of half a dozen McPherson ERI colleagues, along with collaborators at Johns Hopkins University, has been selected as one of six groups to receive funding from the National Eye Institute with the goal of restoring vision by regenerating photoreceptor cells. Read more….
A multidisciplinary group of researchers is building a model of the retina that will help doctors better diagnose and develop treatments for age-related macular degeneration (AMD). Kristyn Masters and Pam Kreeger, both associate professors of biomedical engineering, in conjunction with Aparna Lakkaraju, an assistant professor with the Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences…Read more
The Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences has published a new paper by Li Xuan Tan, Kimberly Toops, and Aparna Lakkaraju, which pinpoints how immune abnormalities in the retinal pigment epithelium can cause macular degeneration. The paper also notes that drugs commonly used to treat depression can counteract these abnormalities and protect the retina. …
The McPherson Eye Research Institute celebrated its 10th Anniversary with the 4th Annual Endowed Lecture on Thursday, April 28, 2016. Pawan Sinha, PhD, Professor of Vision and Computational Neuroscience in the Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences at MIT, spoke about “Learning to See Late in Childhood.” His lecture focused on Project Prakash – an initiative restoring sight to blind children …
Waisman Biomanufacturing and McPherson Eye Research Institute held this day-long workshop on March 17, 2016, at The Wisconsin Institute for Discovery, Madison, WI (8:00 am – 6:30 pm). The development of cell therapies for ocular diseases from basic research to clinical studies was presented and discussed, including: the development of cells for drug screening applications, …
MERI-at-a-Glance successfully took place on February 19th at the Wisconsin Institute of Discovery (WID), where eight short research talks were presented. Vision-related findings and interests were shared from cataracts and glaucoma, viral gene delivery to therapeutic stem cell interventions, and computational optics to toddlers and TV. These McPherson ERI members presented at MERI-at-a-Glance: Ariel Alperstein, …
Gillian McLellan (Ophthalmology) is shown here checking out the eyes of a rare human/Mustelidae hybrid at a Badger hockey game in November. The creature, fully recovered, later posed with McPherson ERI Director David Gamm.
In a study released today, researchers from a variety of institutions – including the Marshfield Clinic, whose director, Dr. Murray Brilliant, is the lead author of the study – have announced that patients who use the drug L-DOPA, commonly used for Parkinson’s Disease and other movement disorders, are “significantly less likely to develop Age-related Macular …
A New Study from McPherson ERI Members & Collaborators Shows That Patients Taking the Drug L-DOPA are Significantly Less Likely to Develop Age-related Macular Degeneration (AMD). Read more
Guest Lecturers Bring Neuromagic to the HSLC McPherson ERI’s annual event showcasing vision-related research was held on Tuesday, November 3rd, drawing more than 100 participants to the atrium of the Health Sciences Learning Center. Following the poster session, Drs. Susana Martinez-Conde and Stephen Macknik (Professors at SUNY Downstate Medical Center in New York City and …