Working Together to Understand, Protect and Restore Vision
MERI member Prof. Donna Neumann (DOVS) has been awarded a five-year R01 grant from the National Institutes of Health’s National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases to support her project, “A chromatin loop controls the expression of anterograde transport genes during HSV-1.” This highly competitive award builds on preliminary research supported by a pilot grant …
We are pleased to share a newly published online article highlighting the work of McPherson Eye Research Institute member Randy Bartels. The article explores recent advances in quantum imaging and how this emerging approach could open a powerful new window into the nanoscale universe. Quantum imaging leverages the unique properties of light to reveal details that are difficult—or …
The latest issue of InSights features articles on a groundbreaking stem cell clinical trial, MERI’s Outreach accomplishments, and the establishment of the Alice R. McPherson Archives!
Big news! A groundbreaking eye therapy developed by MERI trainee Celia Bisbach and MERI Director David Gamm has been nominated for a 2025 WARF Innovation Award! Designed to treat retinal diseases, this new approach targets and eliminates VEGF—the protein responsible for abnormal blood vessel growth—right at the site of disease. The result? ✨ Fewer injections …
Congratulations to Professor Curtis Brandt, one of our latest recipients of the MERI Grant Summit Program (GSP) Award! Prof. Brandt’s winning research proposal was entitled ‘Mechanisms of Sensory Nerve Loss in HSV-1 Keratitis.’ This project aims to understand how herpes simplex virus type 1 (HSV-1) causes nerve damage in the eye, which can lead to …
Congratulations to Associate Professor Xin Huang, one of our latest recipients of the MERI Grant Summit Program (GSP) Award! Prof. Huang’s winning research proposal was entitled ‘Neural Mechanisms Underlying Perceptual Organization.’ This project investigates how the visual system selectively integrates local visual elements into a coherent object while segregating different objects from one another based on visual …
Congratulations to Associate Professor Donna Neumann, one of our latest recipients of the MERI Grant Summit Program (GSP) Award! Prof. Neumann’s winning research proposal was entitled ‘Inhibiting repair of the Herpes Simplex Virus genome for therapeutic effect.’ This project investigates the role of cellular single-strand DNA damage repair in the repair of nicks and gaps in HSV-1 …
Using a stem cell-derived therapeutic developed over more than a decade in Dr. David Gamm’s lab at UW–Madison, BlueRock Therapeutics has treated the first patient in a new Phase 1/2a clinical trial aimed at a group of inherited retinal disorders (including RP and cone-rod dystrophy). The initiative is the result of a strategic research alliance formed in …
MERI member Karen Schloss (UW Department of Psychology and Wisconsin Institute for Discovery), recently sat down with WPR’s The Larry Meiller Show to discuss her research on how colors influence meaning, behavior, and emotion. Listen to the whole interview here.
A recent study by the Hoon lab published in Current Biology has uncovered new modes of retinal circuit compensation and adaptation in response to impairments seen in congenital stationary night blindness (CSNB). CSNB is a retinal disease where input to a primary retinal pathway is suppressed. Using mouse models that mimic different stages of disease severity, partial …