[CCoE Notice] Seminar: Role of Extracellular Matrix in Progression of Retinal Degenerative Disorders

[Grayson, Audrey A]

[cid:image005.jpg at 01D1730A.29DD4810]

Seminar
ROLE OF THE EXTRACELLULAR MATRIX IN PROGRESSION OF RETINAL DEGENERATIVE DISORDERS
Friday, March 11, 2016
SEC 204: 12:00 PM – 1:00 PM
Speaker: Dr. Muayyad Al-Ubaidi

[cid:image006.jpg at 01D1730A.29DD4810]

Abstract: Progressive inherited retinal degenerative disorders (PIRDDs) are the leading cause for blindness in the developed countries with age-related macular degeneration (AMD) and retinitis pigmentosa (RP) constituting the majority of PIRDs. Currently, over 8 million Americans have PIRDs and that number is estimated to drastically increase by the end of this decade. Although a mutant protein is expressed starting early during retinal development in PIRDs patients, symptoms of retinal degeneration manifest much later. Current research focuses on understanding the role a mutation plays in the function of a protein. However, it remains unknown why the disease manifests much later in life even though cells are dying throughout early and middle life. Our research offers a potential explanation to the presence of a time point when the degenerative process is accelerated. This point is defined by structural disruptions of the extracellular matrix (ECM). Death of a critical number of ECM-maintaining mutant protein-expressing retinal cells contributes to that break point in the degenerative process. It is, therefore, important to understand the changes occurring at the ECM during PIRDs and to take that in account when therapeutic approaches are designed.

Bio: Dr. Al-Ubaidi is a Professor of Biomedical Engineering at the University of Houston.  His current research focuses on the role of the extracellular matrix in retinal homeostasis and in the progression of blinding retinal disorders. He uses transgenic, knockout and knockin mouse models. His research has been funded by NIH and the Foundation Fighting Blindness. Dr. Al-Ubaidi received his Ph.D. in Biochemistry/Molecular Biology from Baylor College of Medicine..  He had two post-doctoral fellowships, the first at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute and the second ay the Cullen Eye Institute. He became a faculty at the Cullen Eye institute in 1991 and then joined the UIC Eye Center in 1992. Eight years later he moved to the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center. On Nov 1, 2015, Dr. Al-Ubaidi joined the faculty in the Department of Biomedical Engineering at the University of Houston.  He has published 89 papers, served as a reviewer for numerous journals and on study sections for the National Institute of Health, the Foundation Fighting Blindness, OUHSC, Midwest Eye Banks and Transplantation Center and for the French Government.

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://Bug.EGR.UH.EDU/pipermail/engi-dist/attachments/20160229/ddbcb773/attachment-0001.html 
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: image005.jpg
Type: image/jpeg
Size: 4743 bytes
Desc: image005.jpg
Url : http://Bug.EGR.UH.EDU/pipermail/engi-dist/attachments/20160229/ddbcb773/attachment-0002.jpg 
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: image006.jpg
Type: image/jpeg
Size: 9786 bytes
Desc: image006.jpg
Url : http://Bug.EGR.UH.EDU/pipermail/engi-dist/attachments/20160229/ddbcb773/attachment-0003.jpg