Ying Liu, MD, PhD
Extracellular Vesicles in Human Degenerative Retinal Organoids
Abstract
Retinal degenerations encompass a diverse group of disorders that cause severe visual impairment and even blindness. Understanding the common molecular changes and mechanisms is essential for advancing diagnostic and therapeutic approaches for patients. Recent studies highlight the critical roles of extracellular vesicles (EVs) in neurodegenerative diseases of the central nervous system (CNS). While the neuroretina extends from the CNS, the roles of its EVs in retinopathies remain unknown. Therefore, we propose to identify the characteristics of EVs from diseased neuroretinas and their roles in retinal degeneration using human degenerative retinal organoids (ROs). We hypothesize that human degenerative neuroretinal EVs capture the molecular changes in retinal degeneration and mediate the multicellular pathologies associated with the disease. Successful completion of this project will lay the groundwork for novel EV-based diagnosis and therapies for retinal degeneration diseases.
The PhRMA Foundation award recognizes the potential of my work in developing novel extracellular vesicle-based diagnostics and therapies for retinal degeneration. This funding provides critical resources to advance my research and drive future breakthroughs to benefit patients.
