The People of the Glia Research Lab
Debasish Sinha, Ph.D., Principal Investigator.
The Glia Research Lab (GRL) is headed by Debasish. His major interest is exploring the function of glial cells during normal neuronal and vascular development and investigating how abnormalities in glial cells lead to central nervous system diseases using rat spontaneous mutants and genetically engineered mice as tools.
Phone: (410) 502-2100
J. Samuel Zigler, Jr., Ph.D., Senior Investigator.
Sam spend almost 30 years at the National Eye Institute doing lens and cataract research. He joined the Wilmer Eye Institute in 2006 to work with Debasish and pursue his career-long interest in the structure and function of crystallins. He is investigating the functions of βA3/A1-crystallin in the lens and in astrocytes. He is also involved in the identification of the mutation and the gene responsible for the frogleg phenotype, a novel spontaneous mutation with neurological defects.
Phone: (410) 502-8701
Stacey Hose, B.A., Research Specialist, Laboratory Manager.
Stacey graduated from Western Maryland College (now renamed McDaniel College) in 2001 with a degree in Biology. She came to Johns Hopkins/Wilmer soon afterwards and has been working on the Nuc1 project for several years. In addition to managing the day to day affairs of the Glia Research Lab, Stacey is interested in understanding the role of βA3/A1-crystallin in astrocyte-endothelial cell-cell communication via the Notch pathway.
Phone: (410) 502-2101
Cheng (Charles) Zhang, M.D., Investigator.
Charles is currently working on the role of βA3/A1-crystallin expressed in the retinal pigmented epithelium (RPE) with an emphasis on phagocytosis and also on aquaporin protein expression in the Nuc1 retina. His studies on the functions of the βA3/A1-crystallin protein in astrocytes and RPE are highly likely to provide mechanistic insights into cellular regulatory activities associated during development, the findings should also provide clues to understanding retinal degenerative diseases.
Phone: (410) 502-2940/8700
Geetha Parthasarathy, Ph.D., Investigator.
Geetha is presently analyzing the expression pattern of the βA3/A1-crystallin gene during embryonic and post-natal development of the eye by in-situ hybridization. She will also be exploring the possible role of the immune complement system and microglia in subverting apoptosis and autophagy in the Nuc1 retina leading to necrosis and degeneration.
Phone: (410) 502-2940/8700
Gitanjali Sehrawat, Ph.D., Investigator.
During early development of the mammalian eye, there is a transient network of blood vessels arising from the area of the optic nerve, extending through the vitreous, and surrounding the developing lens. Called the fetal vasculature, these blood vessels nourish the lens and retina before formation of the retinal vasculature. When vessels begin to appear in the retina, the fetal vasculature normally degenerates and disappears completely, prior to birth in humans and within the first few weeks of post-natal development in rodents, to provide an optically clear path between the cornea and the retina. One of the more common congenital, developmental disorders of the eye, persistent fetal vasculature (PFV), results from the complete or partial failure of this regression of the fetal vasculature. PFV is a disease that leads to blindness or serious loss of vision, with few treatment options at present, in otherwise normal children. The Nuc1 animal model provides unique opportunities to investigate molecular mechanisms underlying PFV disease, thereby helping us to better understand the disease etiology and potentially to develop therapies to prevent or ameliorate the condition. Gitanjali is looking into the involvement of VEGF and the MAPK/ERK and PI-3 kinase/Akt pathways during the remodeling process of the fetal vasculature, possibly mediated by βA3/A1-crystallin in the astrocytes.
Phone: (410)-502-2940/8700
Andrew Klise, M.S., Medical Student.
Andy Klise began working with Dr. Zigler at the National Eye Institute in 2005 and migrated with him to the Glia Research Lab in 2006. After identifying the Nuc1 mutation as well as localizing the frogleg mutation through full genome searches, Andy is now using the Affymetrix GeneChip Array (Rat Genome 230 2.0) and the Ingenuity Pathway Analysis software to identify a mechanism by which the Nuc1 mutation causes a unique phenotype in the eye. When not working at GRL, he is a full time medical student. He is also a Rubik's cube nut and has made semi-novel, single-page PDF files containing all the algorithms needed to solve Rubik's cubes of all sizes. These guides can be found on his website: www.kungfoomanchu.com.
Phone: (410)-502-2940/8700
Bo Ma, M.D., Ph.D., Exchange student.
Bo received his Doctor of Medicine degree from the Norman Bethune College of Medicine, Jilin University, Changchun, China. He is currently a Resident in Ophthalmology at Fudan University in Shanghai where he is also pursuing a Ph.D. in Ophthalmology. His doctoral research concerns the process of cataract development and he will be a student trainee at GRL conducting molecular and cellular studies on the ocular lens. In particular, he will investigate the mechanisms underlying cataract formation in the Nuc1 rat model.
Phone: (410)-502-2940/8700
Vaishnavi Sridhar, High School Student
Vaishnavi will graduate high school in 2011 at River Hill High School. She has joined to work on a project understanding the possible role of astrocytes in PFV disease. She hopes to enter the Intel Science competition after further research on this topic.
Rhonda Grebe
Rhonda Grebe is a very talented researcher and has about 35 years of experience as an electron microscopist. She divides her time between Wilmer Imaging core facility, Lutty and the Glia laboratories. Her interest at the Glia research laboratory is to identify the changes that occur in the glial cells of our spontaneous mutant and genetically engineered animals at the ultrastructural level.
