2023 Winston Fellow Award Recipient

Congratulations to Sean McCracken, winner of the Inaugural Winston Fellow Competition. Sean McCracken from the Williams Lab presented “Diversity in homeostatic calcium set points predicts retinal ganglion cell survival following optic nerve injury in vivo” In December 2022, David (A&S ‘74) and Deborah Winston made a generous gift to establish the Winston Fellow Award in […]

ARVO 2023 Presenters

Two doctors in the research lab looking at petri dish

Rajendra Apte, MD, PhD Presentation “Laser Therapy/Surgery” Jason Colasanti Poster “C0352: MiR-34a promotes choroidal neovascularization through modulating the KLF2/CXCR4 axis” Isabella Gomes Poster “C0448: Phenotypic heterogeneity in a family with a late Cone-Rod Homeobox truncation mutation” Mae Gordon, PhD Presentation “How to minimize bias”Poster “B0166: Prediction model of visual field progression in the Ocular Hypertension […]

Clinical trials | Use of Imaging on Retina to Identify Alzheimer’s

A noninvasive test may screen for disease before symptoms begin. Dr. Van Stavern is using retinal imaging as a window to the brain to develop a more accessible and affordable screening tool for Alzheimer’s disease that could become part of a routine eye exam. The retina and central nervous system are so interconnected that changes in […]

Global Impact | Capacity Building for Medical Research in Africa

I am a new research faculty in the Department of Ophthalmology & Visual Sciences, started last November. My research aims to uncover the molecular and cellular basis of the regional specializations in the retina and understand why certain retinal diseases cause degeneration in specific regions such as age-related macular degeneration in the central eye and […]

Translating Science to Medicine | Tunable Gene Therapy

Gene therapy has been used in clinical trials to treat several types of inherited retinal degenerative diseases. Dr. Shiming Chen’s Lab aims to overcome the limitations of the current gene therapy technology by developing a new strategy called “tunable gene therapy” that has the ability to target diseases linked to mutations.  The tunable gene therapy strategy […]

Congratulations! Joseph Lin

Joseph Lin

Joseph Lin, MTSP Student in the Apte Lab has received the 2023 National Eye Institute (NEI) ARVO Travel Grant. This awarded travel grant in the amount of $750, will cover Joseph’s meeting registration and provide partial travel support to attend and present at the ARVO 2023 Annual Meeting which will be held April23-27 in New […]

R01 Grant Renewal

Congratulations! Steven Bassnett, PhD, Grace Nelson Lacy Distinguished Professor of Ophthalmology and Visual Science on the renewal of the R01 grant entitled “Structural, Mechanical, and Cell Biological Properties of the Ciliary Zonule.” (grant ID R01EY029130). The Research Project Grant (R01) is the original and historically oldest grant mechanism used by NIH. The R01 provides support […]

Mid-America Transplant Grant Recipient!

Congratulations! Andrew Huang , MD, MPH, Professor, Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences, on receiving a grant from Mid-America Transplant through a collaboration with CryoCrate entitled “Establishment of the First Limbal Tissue Bank in the World Based on a First-in-Class Biocompatible Cryopreservation Technology.” The Mid-America Transplant Foundation provides grants and scholarships to community organizations and students working to improve donation […]

Congratulations! Joseph Lin

Joseph Lin

Joseph Lin, MSTP Student in the Apte Lab has just published a paper in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) entitled “Dry Eye Disease in Mice Activates Adaptive Corneal Epithelial Regeneration Distinct from Constitutive Renewal in Homeostasis” Joseph, along with additional faculty members of the Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences discuss […]

New Faculty Member

Please welcome, Takeshi Yoshimatsu, PhD, to the DOVS Research Faculty team as the new Assistant Professor of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences. Dr. Yoshimatsu who joined our team on November 14, 2022 has a MSc and PhD in Bioengineering from the University of Tokyo, Japan, as well as Postdoctoral Training in Neuroscience. Additional academic training includes: […]

Thach Award Recipient

Zelun Wang

Congratulations to Zelun Wang, MSTP MD/PhD student from the Apte Lab; and co-mentored by Dr. Philip Williams, on receiving the Thach Award in Neuroscience for his Short Talk entitled “Energetic Diversity of Retinal Ganglion Cells and Implications for Neurodegeneration” The Tom Thach Award was initiated in 2014 to honor the contributions to science and the […]

R01 Grant Recipient

Congratulations! Thomas Ferguson, PhD Professor, Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences, on receiving a new four year R01 Grant from NEI for his research entitled “Immune Privilege, Müller cells, and Autophagy.” The Research Project Grant (R01) is the original and historically oldest grant mechanism used by NIH. The R01 provides support for the health-related research and development based on the […]

R01 Grant Recipient

Congratulations! Rithwick Rajagopal, MD, PhD, Assistant Professor, Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences; Director of Clinical COVID Preparedness, on receiving a new five year R01 Grant from NEI for his research entitled “Modulating Retinal Lipid Biogenesis in Diabetes for Therapeutic Effects.” The Research Project Grant (R01) is the original and historically oldest grant mechanism used by NIH. […]

2022 Ultimate BeepBall Tournament

WashU Visionaries Congratulations! to the WashU Visionaries, headed by Philip Ruzycki, PhD and Liam McCoy (research tech, DOVS) on their very first entry into the 2022 MindsEye Ultimate BeepBall Tournament, that was held in Fenton Park on June 25, 2022. BeepBall is a spin on baseball where everyone is blindfolded except the pitcher and catcher. […]

R01 Grant Recipient

Congratulations! Philip Williams, PhD, Assistant Professor, Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences on receiving his first R01 Grant from NEI for his research entitled “Resilient Identifying and Leveraging Strategies of Inherently Resilient Retinal Neurons to Treat Degeneration” The Research Project Grant (R01) is the original and historically oldest grant mechanism used by NIH. The R01 provides support […]

K08 Grant Recipient

Congratulations! Lynn Hassman, MD, PhD, Assistant Professor, Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences on receiving a K08 Grant from NEI for her research entitled “Resolution of Ocular Inflammation: The Role of Type 1 Conventional Dendritic Cells.” The K08 is a special award for individuals who have a clinical doctoral degree to provide support and protected time to […]

2022 Cora Verhagen Award Recipient!

Congratulations to Chas Pfeifer, research trainee in the Apte Lab, on receiving the “2022 Cora Verhagen Award” for best poster or paper presented by a graduate student or post-doctoral fellow in an immunology-sponsored session at the ARVO annual meeting. Both Chas and Dr. Apte will be attending the 2023 ARVO conference next year in New […]

Congratulations! Dr. Ruzycki!

The 2022 RPB Career Development Award Recipient Philip Ruzycki, PhD has been granted the prestigious Research to Prevent Blindness (RPB) Career Development Award to support eye research. The RPB Career Development Award was established in 1960 and is given to support the independent pursuits of promising early career scientists or clinician scientists in their research […]

2022 Cogan Award Recipient!

Congratulations to Dr. Daniel Kerschensteiner, who has received the Cogan Award of the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology (ARVO). The annual award recognizes a researcher age 45 or younger who has made important research contributions in ophthalmology and visual science that are directly related to disorders of the human eye or visual system, […]

Congratulations! Dr. Kerschensteiner

Bernard Becker Professor of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences Daniel Kerschensteiner, MD has been appointed the new Bernard Becker Professor of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences. This scholarship is in acknowledgement for the outstanding leadership he has brought to our department as well as to the fields of neuroscience and the visual sciences