Translational Research

BaoXiang is the Dr. Wu Laboratory Manager. He is focused on development of scalable and cGMP compatible Ocular Stem Cells differentiation protocols, which will be applied for Vision Recovery.

Generation of Eye Intra-Species Mouse Chimeras Using Blastocyst Complementation:

This project serves to treat pathologies of eye where transplantation is necessary for example, corneal blindness. Transplantation is an effective therapy for these patients, but is limited by availability of donor tissue. Other methods have been attempted to create corneal tissue, including differentiating human embryonic stem cells (hESC) or human induced pluripotent stem cells (hIPSC). However, the differentiation pathways to create the eye cells are still unknown. Using a method known as blastocyst complementation, we propose creating chimeric organisms that contain the relevant tissue. We hope that this strategy will be a means to generate viable eye tissue and revolutionize tissue/organ transplantation.

1. Blastocyst complementation and gene editing to study congenital eye disease pathogenesis

A number of heritable and environmental factors can cause eye defects at birth which lead to malformation of eyes and even blindness. These diseases such as anophthalmia, microphthalmia, aniridia, coloboma and retinitis pigmentosa are rare and there is limited understanding of how to treat them. Hence, there is a pressing need to understand the genetic causes behind these blinding diseases. We are interested in generating mutant mouse models of the different ocular diseases to understand disease origin and progression and subsequently rescue these mouse models using blastocyst complementation

2. Growth and proliferation of ocular cells on biomatrices for transplantation

             Different techniques have been used for cell-based ocular surface regeneration previously, however it has been a challenge to transplant these cells from in vitro to in vivo. We are interested in using different biomatrices to study the growth and differentiation of iPSCs and primary ocular cells and design methods to transplant them in to animal models to determine therapeutic options for patients with ocular injuries.   

3. Studying the involvement of CD47 in development of myopia

            Myopia is a refractive error of eye which is prevalent in more than 50% of population worldwide. It is caused due to elongation of the eyeball however molecular mechanisms leading to it are still unknown. Recent GWAS studies have shown that CD47, which is usually expressed on the surface of cancer cells, is highly dysregulated in patients with myopia. We are interested in determining the relationship between CD47 and myopia by characterizing the CD47 expression in animal models of myopia with the goal of finding therapeutic targets.

4. Isolation and culture of meibomian glands

            Meibomian glands are found in eyelids and produce meibum which is a layer of oil on the surface of tears that prevents them from evaporating. Dysregulation in meibomian glands is the leading cause of dry eye disease which can cause eye irritation and infections. We are interested in isolating meibomian glands from animal models and optimizing culture condition in vitro with the goal of eventually culturing human Meibomian glands to study control and diseased stages.

5. Determining the causes of symblepharon using mouse models of eye fibrosis

            Adhesions occur in the eye after surgery or due to inflammation or chemical injury and can lead to vision loss. Surgical adhesions have been studied previously in other parts of the body such as peritoneum where mesothelial cells have been shown to be involved in adhesion formation. We want to determine the causes for adhesions in the eye in order to find therapeutic interventions for symblepharon using mice as a model organism.