Jonathan Ash, Ph.D.

Dept of Ophthalmology, University of Oklahoma

Project:  To perform research on neuroprotection that would be relevant to genetic photoreceptor degenerations
Summary: In most cases of retinal degeneration, photoreceptor death is the result of long-term inflammation, exposure to environmental insults, and genetics. While disease causing genes are present before birth, patients with retinitis pigmentosa or age related macular degeneration typically do not develop disease for 50 to 80 years. The protracted time to develop symptoms suggests that retinal neurons have an endogenous mechanism for protection from chronic injury. The main focus of Dr. Ash’s work is to identify the mechanism of stress-induced endogenous protection of photoreceptors, and once identified, he and his team will develop these protective mechanisms into new therapeutics, with the goal of delaying or preventing blindness resulting from inherited retinal degenerations.