Medical College of Wisconsin Ocular Gene Therapy Laboratory 2016 News
2016 News
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December 07, 2016 Congratulations – Chris Reid completes his qualifying exam and thesis proposal Chris Reid, a fourth year graduate student in the Interdisciplinary Biomedical Sciences Doctoral Program (IDP), successfully passed his qualifying exam and defended his thesis proposal, entitled “Improvement of Adeno-Associated Virus Packaging, Targeting and Gene Regulation for Gene Therapy Applications“. In a two hour exam, Chris was examined by a five-member committee, consisting of Drs Daniel Lipinski, DPhil, Joseph Besharse, PhD, Joseph Carroll, PhD, Iris Kassem, MD, PhD and Jeffrey Medin, PhD. |
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October 6, 2016 Congratulations - Chris Reid is awarded Best Poster prize Judges at the Medical College of Wisconsin 26th Annual Graduate School Research Poster Session elected to award Chris Reid a Best Poster Prize for the presentation of his graduate research project entitled ‘Riboswitch-mediated modulation of transgene expression following rAAV delivery to the mouse retina’. Chris’ work was selected from over 80 posters presented by graduate students and post-doctoral researchers throughout MCW. |
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September 14, 2016 Daniel Lipinski, DPhil and collaborator Iris Kassem, MD, PhD, participate in the AEVR/NAVER Emerging Vision Scientist Research Day, Washington, D.C. Daniel Lipinski, DPhil, with collaborator Iris Kassem, MD, PhD, was selected as one of 22 emerging vision scientists to conduct congressional meetings on behalf of the National Alliance for Eye and Vision Research (NAEVR), a non-profit advocacy organization aiming to ‘achieve the best eye and vision care for Americans through advocacy and education.’ Dr. Lipinski presented a poster outlining his laboratory’s progress toward developing novel treatment methodologies for diabetic retinopathy and met with representatives of Senator Tammy Baldwin, Senator Ron Johnson and Congresswomen Gwen Moore to advocate for increased federal funding for eye and vision research through the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and National Eye Institute (NEI). |
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July 18, 2016 Welcome - Kristina J. Ertel joins the Lipinski Lab as a Research Technologist! The Lipinski Lab is delighted to welcome Kristina Ertel to MCW as a Research Technologist. Kristina is a recent alumnus of Marian University, Wisconsin, where she graduated with honors in biology (major) and chemistry (minor), and will be working on screening novel adeno-associated virus (AAV) vector serotypes against human donor retinal tissue to determine their cellular tropism. Kristina will also be working jointly with Iris Kassem, MD, PhD, whose research focuses on improving visual outcomes following pediatric cataract surgery. |
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July 05, 2016 Welcome - Bethan S. Jones joins the Lipinski Lab for a summer research program! The Lipinski Lab is delighted to welcome Bethan Jones, a second-year ‘Chemistry with Biomedicine’ undergraduate student from King’s College London, UK, for an eleven-week summer research placement. Bethan is supported by a competitive Oversees Summer Studentship and will be investigating the role differential gene expression plays in the development of choroideremia, an inherited retinal disease that causes severe vision loss in approximately 1 in 100,000 people worldwide. |
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May 02, 2016 Chris Reid presents evidence that suppression of cytotoxic transgene expression during production significantly improves adeno-associated virus (AAV) vector yield The use of adeno-associated virus (AAV) vectors to deliver genes that cause cell death is central to the development of therapies aimed at treating diseases caused by abnormal cell proliferation, such as retinoblastoma, an aggressive early childhood cancer that frequently leads to severe visual impairment or blindness. The problem exists, however, that expression of any cytotoxic gene during AAV production – which is carried out in live cells – negatively affects the overall vector yield. |
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April 25, 2016 Welcome - Christopher A. Reid joins the Lipinski Lab as a graduate transfer student! The Lipinski Lab is delighted to welcome Chris Reid, a third-year graduate student transferring from the University of Florida (Go Gators!) to MCW. Chris joins the MCW Cell and Developmental Biology Interdisciplinary Program (IDP) and will continue his research in the Lipinski Lab, focusing on investigating novel methodologies to control gene expression levels following in vivo administration of adeno-associated virus (AAV) vectors. |
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April 04, 2016 Ocular Gene Therapy Laboratory (OGTL) established at Medical College of Wisconsin (MCW) The Ocular Gene Therapy Laboratory (OGTL) was today established at MCW by incoming faculty member, Daniel M. Lipinski, MSc, DPhil, who joins the Department of Ophthalmology & Visual Sciences as Assistant Professor of Ophthalmology & Visual Sciences, Cell Biology, Neurobiology and Anatomy. The OGTL Lipinski Laboratory will focus on the development of novel gene therapy treatments for inherited neurodegenerative and vascular diseases affecting the eye, such as retinitis pigmentosa, age-related macular degeneration and diabetic retinopathy. |