Eric Jong, Graduate Student
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I completed my BSc. in Biology at the University of New Brunswick in 2014. Before joining the Nagy lab, I was immersed in cardiovascular, cancer, and microbiology research which opened many different paths for me to pursue in my graduate studies. Thus, I decided to join the Nagy lab because of its multidisciplinary research focus and team of excellent scientists. My thesis aims to use genetically engineered cells that secrete therapeutic proteins to delay the progression of retinitis pigmentosa.
Retinitis pigmentosa is one of the most common causes of inherited blindness which is a result of photoreceptor degeneration (i.e. loss of light-sensing cells in the eye). Cell transplantation is a favorable strategy to restore vision, but is limited by extremely poor integration into the host retina and connection with host neuronal circuitry. Therapeutic proteins show promise to delay photoreceptor degeneration, but this approach would require frequent eye injections that can cause damage over time, such as cataract, severe inflammation, and retinal detachment. Overall, we hope to develop a long-term cell therapy that delays disease progression.
