Dr. Michael Boulton discusses Programmed Bone Marrow-Derived cells as a Systemic Therapy for Retinal Degeneration
Date Posted: Friday, January 25, 2019Michael E Boulton, the Susan and Dowd Ritter/RPB Endowed Chair and Professor in Ophthalmology Research, University of Alabama, former Head of the School of Optometry and Vision Sciences, Cardiff University, UK, was the honorable guest speaker of January’s Vision Seminar.
Dr. Boulton is a world-renowned vision scientist and a thought leader who serves on the editorial board of several vision research journals. He contributed significantly in exploring the molecular mechanism of age-related macular degeneration (AMD) and diabetic retinopathy. He has: a) over 30 years of experience in vision research, b) published over 220 peer review articles plus over 40 book chapters and c) a long history of sustained funding from NIH and other agencies/commercial sources.
Dr. Boulton shared his exciting strategy for retinal regeneration with the audience. His group has shown that healthy adult bone marrow-derived cells (BMDC) can, when programmed with a lentiviral vector expressing RPE65 and injected back into the circulation, home to the retina and renew the RPE monolayer in both acute and chronic mouse models of RPE loss and re-establish visual function.
