Visual Sciences Training Program

The Case Visual Sciences Research Center invites applications for the Visual Sciences Training Program.

TRAINING FACULTY & RESEARCH AREAS:
THE VISUAL SCIENCES TRAINING PROGRAM

TRAINING FACULTY
Case Visual Sciences Research Center faculty members belong to a wide range of basic science and clinical departments.

SHERRY L. BALL, PH.D., Assistant Professor of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences, Case Western Reserve University; Assistant Staff , Cole Eye Institute, Cleveland Clinic Foundation; Health Research Scientist, Cleveland Veterans Aff airs Medical Center. Photoreceptor degeneration and glial cell activation in the retina lead to alterations in retinal function using an activity dependant marker, electroretinography, and behavioral measures; diabetes-induced functional changes in retinal Müller cells and the eff ect of these changes on the progression of vision loss in diabetic patients.

SARA M. DEBANNE, PH.D., Professor and Acting Director of the Division of Biostatistics of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Case Western Reserve University. Construction of mathematical and statistical models of disease progression, with particular interest in the modeling of Alzheimer disease progression and its interaction with ophthalmologic conditions; the impact of cataract surgery on cognitive impairment and quality of life measures in individuals in various stages of Alzheimer disease.

LOUIS F. DELL’OSSO, PH.D., Professor of Neurology and Biomedical Engineering, Case Western Reserve University; Director of the Daroff-Dell’Osso Ocular Motility Laboratory, Cleveland Veterans Affairs Medical Center. Congenital disorders that affect eye movements; acquired disorders causing either nystagmus or saccadic instabilities and oscillopsia; computer models of the ocular motor system and of ocular motor abnormalities.

SUDHA K. IYENGAR, PH.D., Associate Professor of the Division of Genetic and Molecular Epidemiology of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Case Western Reserve University. Genetics of complex human disorders; mapping quantitative trait loci associated with age-related maculopathy; genetic basis of Fuchs’ Endothelial Corneal Dystrophy. TIMOTHY S. KERN, PH.D., Professor of Medicine, Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences and Pharmacology, Case Western Reserve University; Professor of Research Service, Cleveland Veterans Affairs Medical Center. (VSRC Director of the Specialized Animal Research Core.) Biochemical causes of retinopathy in diabetes (especially focusing on inflammation), and development of therapies to inhibit the retinopathy.

LYNN T. LANDMESSER, PH.D., Arline J. and Curtis F. Garvin Professor and Chair of Neurosciences, Case Western Reserve University. The cellular and molecular mechanisms of the formation of specific neural circuits including axon guidance and synapse formation, and the role that spontaneous electrical activity plays in these processes; signaling pathways underlying alternative modes of synaptic vesicle cycling in effective synaptic transmission.

JONATHAN H. LASS, M.D., Charles I. Thomas Professor and Chairman of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences, Case Western Reserve University. Corneal immunology and inflammation including the study of toll-like receptors in bacterial and fungal keratitis; corneal endothelial image analysis; genetics of Fuchs’ Endothelial Corneal Dystrophy.

R. JOHN LEIGH, M.D., Dorothy R. Blair-Robert B. Daroff, M.D. Professor of Neurology, Professor of Biomedical Engineering and Neurosciences, Case Western Reserve University; Principle Investigator of the Daroff-Dell’Osso Ocular Motility Laboratory, Cleveland Veterans Affairs Medical Center. Human ocular motor disorders that impair necessary vision for everyday activities and therapeutic measures to restore clear vision.

JOHN J. MIEYAL, PH.D., Professor and Vice Chair of Pharmacology, Case Western Reserve University. Enzymology and cell biology of intracellular sulfhydryl homeostasis and redox signal transduction in health and diseases, including diabetic retinopathy; focus on the molecular mechanisms and physiological implications of enzymes involved in reversible S-glutathionylation of signaling intermediates.

ROBERT H. MILLER, PH.D., Allen C. Holmes Professor of Neurosciences, Director of the Center for Translational Neuroscience, Case Western Reserve University. Cellular and molecular mechanisms that regulate glial cell determination in the developing vertebrate CNS, including the retina; the study the biology of neural diseases, such as multiple sclerosis, brain tumors and cerebral palsy.

SUSANNE MOHR, PH.D., Assistant Professor of Medicine, Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences, Physiology and Biophysics, Case Western Reserve University. Looking at apoptotic and inflammatory mechanisms in the development of diabetic retinopathy; identifying new drugs and treatment strategies using retinal cells and animal models of diabetic retinopathy.

VINCENT M. MONNIER, M.D., Professor of Pathology and Biochemistry, Case Western Reserve University. Development of transgenic animal models to understand the role of protein damage by ascorbylation in the pathogenesis of cataracts in conditions, such as diabetes and aging.

RAM H. NAGARAJ, PH.D., Carl F. Asseff, M.D. Professor of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences and Pharmacology, Case Western Reserve University. (VSRC Director of the Tissue Culture and Hybridoma Core.) Chemical nature and enzymatic regulation of protein modifications in the lens, small heat shock proteins in cell homeostasis and stress induced apoptosis, structure-function studies on cellular chaperones, role of glyoxalase and anti-apoptotic proteins in retinal capillary cell apoptosis in diabetes.

KRZYSZTOF PALCZEWSKI, PH.D., John H. Hord Professor and Chair of Pharmacology, Case Western Reserve University. (VSRC Director of the Proteomics Core.) The biochemical basis underlying the mechanism of rhodopsin inactivation and restoration of the cGMP level; the biochemical basis underpinning the similarities and differences between rod and cone cell phototransduction; the enzymology of the isomerization of all-trans-retinol to 11-cis-retinol in the retina.

NEAL S. PEACHEY, PH.D., Professor of Neurosciences; Staff Scientist, Ophthalmic Research, Cole Eye Institute, Cleveland Clinic Foundation; Assistant Chief of Staff for Research, Cleveland Veterans Affairs Medical Center. Retinal diseases cause photoreceptor degeneration or involve defects in synaptic transmission between photoreceptors and bipolar cells; experimental treatments for hereditary retinal degenerative diseases.

ERIC PEARLMAN, PH.D., Professor and Research Director of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences, Case Western Reserve University. (VSRC Core Grant Director and VSRC Director of the Histology and Imaging Core.) Immunopathogenesis of ocular onchocerciasis (river blindness); role of toll-like receptors in bacterial keratitis; pathogenesis of fungal keratitis.

ANDREW M. ROLLINS, PH.D., Warren E. Rupp Associate Professor of Biomedical Engineering, Case Western Reserve University. Applications of optical coherence tomography (OCT) imaging in the detection of early disease and monitoring of therapy in human tissues.

JERRY SILVER, PH.D., Professor of Neurosciences, Case Western Reserve University. Extrinsic factors in guiding developing and regenerating axons along proper pathways within the brain and spinal cord of mammals. JOHN S. STAHL, M.D., PH.D., Associate Professor of Neurology, Case Western Reserve University; Staff Physician, Cleveland Veterans Affairs Medical Center. Coordination of head and eye movements in humans; neurophysiology of eye movement control studied in normal and mutant mice; diagnosis and treatment of disorders of eye movements that impair vision.

RICHARD E. ZIGMOND, PH.D., Professor of Neurosciences, Case Western Reserve University. Neurochemical plasticity in adult neurons, particularly molecules and cells involved in altering neuronal gene expression and neurite outgrowth in response to axonal injury.

VISUAL SCIENCES RESEARCH CENTER

The Visual Sciences Research Center (VSRC) of Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine and the Research Institute of University Hospitals Case Medical Center has been awarded a $3.2 million renewal over 5 years of their Core Grant from the National Eye Institute (NEI), one of the government’s National Institutes of Health. The NEI conducts and supports research to help prevent and treat eye diseases and other disorders of vision.

The grant will sustain ongoing research and studies of major diseases of the eye and visual system in support of the research programs of 16 principal investigators holding 23 active NEI individual research grants and an NEI Institutional Training grant. The current investigators form the nucleus of the Case VSRC, a broader group of 40 vision researchers in 19 different basic- and clinical-science departments at Case Medical Center with over $36 million funding in total in vision research and one of the top 10 visual sciences research centers in the country.

The NEI Core Grant, initially awarded in 1997, is now in its third cycle of renewal and has generated over 100 publications advancing the field. Besides exploring eye research affecting the aging population, VSRC investigators are working on lazy eye and cross eyes, ocular immunology and inflammation causing scarring of the eye tissues, and the retinal degenerations, in particular retinitis pigmentosa.

The grant will support core facilities in the newly renovated 15,000 square feet laboratories of the Department and VSRC and enable major new functions including hybridoma production, live cell imaging, laser capture microdissection, and a full service proteomics facility to acquire and analyze protein expression in ocular tissues. The core facilities include:

• Histology and Imaging Core Module
• Tissue Culture and Hybridoma Core Module
• Proteomics Core Module
• Molecular Biology Core Module
• Specialized Animal Resource Core Module

A MESSAGE FROM THE DIRECTOR

Eric Pearlman

VSRC scientists study basic and clinical aspects of the eye, which involve several interdisciplinary research theme groups, including Retinal Biology and the Biochemistry of Vision, Aging and Diabetes, Extraocular Muscle Biology and Ocular Motility, Ocular Development, and Ocular Immunology, Inflammation and Infectious diseases.

Mission
The mission of the VSRC is to promote the study of basic and clinical problems of the eye and visual system that may lead to improvements in the prevention and treatment of major blinding disorders in the United States and the world. Through a multidisciplinary and comprehensive research program in vision and ophthalmology involving both basic and clinical departments at Case Western Reserve University, the VSRC seeks to advance the visual sciences at the university and beyond, and promote its efforts to the scientific community and greater community at large.