Washington University in St. Louis (WU)
I am a physician scientist in the Departments of Neurology and Ophthalmology at Washington University in Saint Louis. My research interest focuses on intrinsic and extrinsic mechanisms of neuronal death and vision loss in a murine model of neurofibromatosis type-1 (NF-1)-associated optic pathway glioma (OPG). Vision loss is a major complication for children with NF1-OPG that can lead to significant morbidity and lifelong disability, with girls being 3 to 5 times more likely to need treatment due to visual impairment than boys. Murine models of Nf1-OPG recapitulate many specific aspects of the human disease including histology, mitotic activity, and sexual dimorphism in visual impairment, while also serve as excellent animal models of chronic optic neuropathy in general. My current project aims to elucidate the molecular mechanisms through which external inflammatory insult exploits the internal vulnerability of Nf1-mutant RGCs to induce neuronal death and vision loss.