A Comparison of the Retinal Microglial Cell Response to Injury

描述（由申请人提供）：我致力于成为一名临床科学家，这个K08奖将帮助我实现这一目标。我近期的职业目标是建立自己的研究实验室。我的长期职业目标是成为再生医学和细胞疗法领域的领导者。我毕业于华盛顿大学医学院，获得医学博士学位，并与加州大学洛杉矶分校的黛博拉·法伯博士一起完成了博士后研究。目前，我在克利夫兰诊所基金会科尔眼科研究所担任助理工作人员。为了建立我的实验室，我目前有25%的时间为病人看病，75%的时间进行实验研究。这个奖项将使我在发展成为一名独立研究者的过程中保持这个比例，并从R01获得资金。我的导师和共同导师是Bela Anand-Apte， m.b.b.s.，博士和Brian Perkins，博士。Bela是眼血管生成领域的领导者，Brian是视网膜变性领域的领导者，是斑马鱼生物学家。我喜欢一个可以共享资源、人员、设备和核心设施的协作环境。他们将密切监督我的工作进度，并每月与我开会讨论我的职业发展和项目进度。我还将每季度与职业发展顾问委员会会面，该委员会由我的导师、共同导师乔·霍利菲尔德博士、尼尔·皮奇博士和约翰·克拉布博士组成。我还将在夏天在伍兹霍尔和冷泉港学习强化课程，并在凯斯西储大学医学院学习课程。我对疤痕形成的作用及其对视网膜再生的影响很感兴趣。我的假设是疤痕抑制了视网膜的再生。为了验证这个假设，我会

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): I am committed to a career as a clinician scientist and this K08 award will help me realize this goal. My immediate career goal is to establish my own research laboratory. My long term career goal is to develop into a leader in the fields of regenerative medicine and cell based therapies. I graduated with an M.D., Ph.D. from Washington University School of Medicine and completed a postdoctoral research fellowship with Debora Farber, Ph.D. at UCLA. Currently, I hold an associate staff position at the Cole Eye Institute, Cleveland Clinic Foundation. In order to establish my laboratory, I currently see patients 25% of the time and conduct bench research 75% of the time. This award will allow me to maintain this ratio as I develop into an independent investigator and secure funding from an R01. My mentor and co-mentor for this proposal are Bela Anand-Apte, M.B.B.S, Ph.D. and Brian Perkins, Ph.D. Bela is a leader in the field of ocular angiogenesis and Brian is a leader in the field of retinal degenerations and is a zebrafish biologist. I enjoy a collaborative environmen with access to shared resources, personnel, and equipment as well as core facilities. They will closely supervise my progress and hold monthly meetings with me to discuss my career development and project progress. I will also meet quarterly with a career development advisory board consisting of my mentor, co-mentor, Dr. Joe Hollyfield, Dr. Neal Peachey, and Dr. John Crabb. I will also take intensive enrichment courses over the summer at Woods Hole and Cold Spring Harbor and courses at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine. I am interested in looking at the role of scar formation and its effects on retinal regeneration. My hypothesis is the scar is inhibitory to regeneration in the retina. To test this hypothesis, I will investigate scar formation in mice and zebrafish. Mice and other mammals form scars in response to retinal injury. In contrast, zebrafish respond to retinal injury with a robust regenerative response. Microglial cells are surveyors of the retinal environment and they are believed to initiate the scar forming response in mammals. In this proposal we will compare the microglial cell response to a laser induced model of retinal injury in mice and zebrafish. Our specific aims are to (1) define the resident microglia response to injury in both organisms, (2) identify secreted factors which stimulate scar formation in an in vitro model, and (3) determine if inducing scar formation in zebrafish will inhibit retinal regeneration. This grant will allow us to better understand the different injury responses between these two species and will yield important information for future regenerative therapies in humans.