Recent News

  • Tuesday, April 3, 2018 - 14:30

    Dr. Robert Mullins was honored with the Inaugural RPB David F. Weeks Award for Outstanding AMD Research from the Association of University Professors in Ophthalmology on January 26th, 2018 during the group's 2018 Annual Meeting in Austin, Texas.

  • Thursday, January 18, 2018 - 14:15

    In collaboration with our colleagues in the University of Iowa Institute for Vision Research, we recently published a series of human retinal organ culture experiments to study the optimal type of viral vectors for transducing human retina. This study was published in Human Gene Therapy (Wiley et al., 2018, http://online.liebertpub.com/doi/10.1089/hum.2017.179). Photo courtesy of Dr. Luke Wiley.

  • Monday, May 15, 2017 - 09:45

    The lab congratulates Dr. Kathleen Chirco, who received her PhD in Molecular and Cellular Biology with the dissertation, "Mechanisms of Pathophysiology and Methods for Regeneration of the Choriocapillaris in Age-Related Macular Degeneration" at The University of Iowa Graduate College Commencement on May 12th, 2017.

  • Thursday, May 11, 2017 - 09:00

    In order to study endothelial cells of the choriocapillaris (CEC) replacement strategies we have generated a 3D choroid scaffold using a novel decellularization method in human RPE/choroid tissue. To our knowledge, this is the first report describing decellularization of human RPE/choroid, as well as recellularization of a choroid scaffold with CECs.

  • Tuesday, October 18, 2016 - 15:30

    The Iowa Lions Eye Bank recently published an article in their newsletter that highlighted the research being conducted in the Chorioretinal Degenerations Laboratory, specifically focusing on the Infant Globe Project.
    http://www.iowalionseyebank.org/Articles/ViewArticle?article=2030

  • Thursday, October 6, 2016 - 08:15

    A single nucleotide polymorphism in the complement factor H (CFH) gene is associated with an increased risk for the development of age-related macular degeneration.
    https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27376713

  • Tuesday, December 29, 2015 - 14:15

    In age-related macular degeneration, activation of the membrane attack complex (MAC) is deposited on the aging choriocapillaris endothelial cells (ECs). In a recent publication in the Journal of Pathology (Zeng et al., http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26564985 ) we demonstrated colocalization of MAC with choroidal ECs at the ultrastructural level. We also sought to determine whether we can model this injury in cultures of ECs exposed to MAC.

  • Tuesday, December 29, 2015 - 14:15

    The formation of the membrane attack complex (MAC) is increased in normal aging and in AMD (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4215023/). In order to determine whether MAC accumulation is specific to the eye, we compared the abundance of MAC across 19 different human tissues.The choriocapillaris was the only tissue with high levels of the MAC, which was not detected in any of the 38 additional samples from 19 tissues.

  • Thursday, May 21, 2015 - 09:45

    The lab congratulates Dr. S. Scott Whitmore (center), who was hooded at The University of Iowa commencement on May 15th. The hooding was performed by Dr. Todd Scheetz (left) and Dr. Robert Mullins (right). Scott received his PhD in Genetics with the dissertation, "Molecular Investigations of Age-Related Macular Degeneration." He is currently a postdoctoral fellow in Dr. Ed Stone's laboratory.

  • Thursday, May 14, 2015 - 15:00

    The laboratory made two presentations at the annual meeting of the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology (ARVO) this May in Denver, CO. Katie Chirco, graduate student, presented a poster on C-reactive protein in age-related macular degeneration. Dr. Mullins spoke at a minisymposium on the topic "Molecular changes in the choroid in aging and AMD." The lab's work was well received.

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