Recent News

  • Lab Publishes Model for Complement Injury in Macular Degeneration
    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.

  • Complement Attack that Occurs in AMD is Specific to the Choriocapillaris
    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.

  • Congratulations Dr. Whitmore!
    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.

  • Lab presents results at ARVO meeting
    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.

  • Lab publishes PRER paper
    Monday, March 16, 2015 - 12:00

    The lab published a manuscript in the March 2015 issue of "Progress in Retinal and Eye Research" titled "Complement activation and choriocapillaris loss in early AMD: implications for pathophysiology and therapy."
    This manuscript links genetics, immunology and pathology, and proposes a model for early development of age-related macular degeneration (AMD). The implications of this model on therapy were also discussed.
    http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25486088

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