Honor recognizes his lifetime contributions to vision science and advances in retinal disease and surgery Rajendra S. Apte, MD, PhD, Paul A. Cibis Distinguished Professor in the WashU Medicine John F. Hardesty, MD Department of Ophthalmology & Visual Sciences, was awarded the Gold Medal by the Saudi Ophthalmology Society for his lifetime contributions to vision […]
Is there a more intriguingly named part of our body than the Zonule of Zinn? This network of tiny, translucent fibers sits behind the iris, bridging the gap between the lens and the inner wall of the eye. Acting like the springs of a trampoline, these fibers enable the lens to adjust its shape to […]
November Spotlights Breakthroughs in Diabetic Retinopathy Research Each November, Diabetic Retinopathy Awareness Month calls attention to one of the leading causes of preventable blindness. At the WashU Medicine John F. Hardesty, MD Department of Ophthalmology & Visual Sciences, researchers are taking the conversation a step further shifting the focus from awareness to innovation, discovery, and […]
This Research Insight covers a publication from the Bassnett Lab. Here, we highlight how findings by Pooja Rathaur, PhD and colleagues have contributed to our understanding of how the fibrous molecules that comprise the zonular fibers of the eye support vision. In their paper published in Cells, scientists in the lab of Steven Bassnett, PhD—professor […]
This Research Insight covers a study from the Kerschensteiner Lab. Here, we highlight how Florentina Soto, PhD and colleagues characterized the functional properties of the output cells of the retina to understand how information is coded in the human retina. This study from the Kerschensteiner Lab, published in Neuron, marks the first functional characterization of […]
Funding supports study using optical coherence tomography angiography to predict risk for preeclampsia Wilson Wang, MD and Rajendra S. Apte, MD, PhD, of the WashU Medicine John F. Hardesty, MD Department of Ophthalmology & Visual Sciences, have received a $139,150 grant from the Foundation for Barnes-Jewish Hospital. This grant is in support of their project […]
Faculty, trainees and staff gathered for the annual retreat featuring poster sessions, food trucks and research awards The John F. Hardesty, MD, Department of Ophthalmology & Visual Sciences hosted the 2025 Vision Science Research Retreat on Friday, October 3, bringing together faculty, trainees and staff for a day celebrating innovation and collaboration in vision research. […]
This Research Insight covers a publication from the Williams Lab. Here, we highlight how Allison Hall and colleagues unveiled the cellular identity of a retinal ganglion cell that innately survives well following injury to the optic nerve. They further explored cellular factors that could help explain the resilience of these cells to offer insights into […]
This Research Insight covers a study from the Chen Lab. Here, we highlight a proposed model for retinal degeneration based on binding activity of the Cone-Rod Homeobox transcription factor, CRX. In this study published in eLife, researchers in the lab of Shiming Chen, PhD, Dr. Bernard and Janet R. Becker Distinguished Professor of Ophthalmology at […]
Aaron Y. Lee, MD, MSCI, and team named Phase 1 finalists in the NIH S-Index Challenge for developing a novel metric to reward high-quality data sharing. St. Louis, MO — September 16, 2025 — We are excited to share that Aaron Y. Lee, MD, MSCI, Arthur W. Stickle Distinguished Professor and Chairman of the WashU Medicine […]
Study identifies critical role of epigenetic regulation in rod photoreceptor specification Ismael Hernández-Núñez, PhD, researcher in the Clark lab at WashU Medicine John F. Hardesty, MD Department of Ophthalmology & Visual Sciences, and his laboratory recently published “Active DNA demethylation upstream of rod-photoreceptor fate determination is required for retinal development”. The study uncovers how changes […]
St. Louis, MO – September 10, 2025 – WashU Medicine John F. Hardesty, MD, Department of Ophthalmology & Visual Sciences is spotlighting advances in corneal regeneration, offering new hope for patients living with vision impairment due to corneal scars and opacities. Corneal scars and opacities—often caused by trauma, infection, or chemical injury—are a leading cause […]
We are excited to announce that Takeshi Yoshimatsu, PhD has received his first R01 grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH)! This prestigious five-year grant, which began on July 1, 2025, will support groundbreaking research titled: “Visual Feature Competition Between Central and Peripheral Retinal Pathways.” Why This Research Matters “Eye fixation is a critical […]
Autophagy Regulates Müller Glial Cell Inflammatory Activation A new study published in Investigative Ophthalmology & Visual Science highlights the critical role of autophagy—the body’s process of recycling proteins—in regulating inflammation within the retina. The research, led by Thomas Ferguson, PhD, and Philip Ruzycki, PhD, from the John F. Hardesty, MD, Department of Ophthalmology & Visual […]
This Research Insight covers a series of studies supported by Mae Gordon, PhD and Michael Kass, MD that highlights the impact of a long-term clinical study, the Ocular Hypertension Treatment Study (OHTS). Together, this research—spanning more than 20 years—has revolutionized the diagnosis of primary open-angle glaucoma (POAG), its treatment, and patient outcomes. In this series […]
St. Louis, MO — August 27, 2025 — Researchers at the WashU Medicine John F. Hardesty, MD, Department of Ophthalmology & Visual Sciences in collaboration with the Department of Neurology have published new findings on the effects of sphingosine-1-phosphate (S1P) receptor modulation on the human retina. The study, led by the Apte Lab and published […]
We’re excited to share a new publication from Josh Morgan, PhD, Assistant Professor, Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences, titled “Alternative to the statistical mass confusion of testing for ‘no effect’”, published in the July 2025 issue of the Journal of Cell Biology. Morgan’s work challenges the traditional reliance on P values to determine whether an effect exists. While P […]
AUGUST 2025 – ST. LOUIS, MO — Brian Clark, PhD Assistant Professor, Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences, and colleagues have published a new study titled “Single-cell transcriptomics of ventral forebrain progenitors identifies Evf2 enhancer lncRNA–enhancer gene guidance through direct RNA binding and RNP recruitment domains”. This work provides new insights into how long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) […]
Science in Focus: Art Beyond the Microscope, a science as art competition! We invite all vision science researchers to participate in this unique competition, where science and art intersect to reveal the beauty within scientific research. Purpose and Goals Our goal is to celebrate the beauty of science and engage the community in its impact. […]
A Novel Insight Into Eye Immunity and Circadian Biology Charles Pfeifer, PhD, a former graduate student and postdoctoral researcher, Andrea Santeford, MS, supervisor in the Apte Lab at WashU Medicine, and Rajendra Apte, MD, PhD, Paul A. Cibis Distinguished Professor of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences, have published a landmark study in the journal Glia. The paper, […]