UMass Ophthalmology at ARVO 2022

The annual UMass Ophthalmology ARVO Vision Seminar was held in person with students, postgraduates and faculties presenting research topics that were presented at the annual ARVO meeting. The topics ranged from basic science, including rAAV mediated gene therapy approaches, to applied clinical science and computational science, to better clinical management and prediction of disease diagnostics. All presenters had exciting new findings that will further our understanding of gene therapy, corneal transplants, and patient management. A brief summary of the work and speakers is presented below.

Emma Wood and Evan Bilsbury, two students in Drs. Lin and Tian laboratory presented research on Adeno-Associated Virus Serotype Tropism in Human Retinal Explants and Non-Human Primates Retinal Explants as well as the use of AAV-mediated anti-VEGF therapeutics, to increase corneal allograft survival-rate. From the same laboratory, Sean Doherty presented work on the role membrane bound Fas ligand plays in the inflammatory response of the cornea. This work was done in collaboration with Dr. Ann Rothstein from the Department of Medicine at UMass Chan Medical School.

Dr. Huan Tianxiao, Assistant Professor in the Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences at UMass Chan Medical School presented work on the role of metabolism and its association with age-related macular degeneration. Her study looked at identifying key drivers regulating the metabolites network of age-related macular degeneration.

Moradi Mousa, who worked with Dr. Seddon and Dr. Huan, presented a clinical project that aims improving the prediction of pathological stages in age-related macular degeneration patients using retinal optical coherence tomography scans in combination with self-learning artificial intelligence algorithms

Shereya Nagri presented a clinical project, in collaboration with Dr. Janardhana that interrogated the efficacy of various glaucoma drop adherence techniques on the compliance of glaucoma patients in using glaucoma eye drop medication.

Emma Wood: Comparison of Adeno-Associated Virus Serotype Tropism in Human Retinal Explants and Non-Human Primates Retinal Explants.

Evan Bilsbury: AAV-mediated anti-VEGF therapeutics increase corneal allograft survival-rate in a model of high-risk corneal transplantation.

Sean Doherty: Overexpression of membrane bound Fas ligand accelerates inflammation in response to corneal alkali burns

Moradi Mousa: Ensemble learning for AMD prediction using retina OCT scans.

Huan Tianxiao: Identifying Key Drivers Regulating the Metabolites Network of Age-related Macular Degeneration.

Shereya Nagri: Efficacy of various glaucoma drop adherence techniques of glaucoma medication compliance.