Director of Research, Eric Pearlman, Ph.D.
As Director of Research for the Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences, together with Jonathan H. Lass, M.D., I would like to welcome you to the Department and to the Visual Sciences Research Center at Case Western Reserve University. The National Eye Institute strongly supports training and vision research at Case Western Reserve University by funding the Visual Sciences Training Grant, the Visual Sciences P-30 Core Facility Grant, and over twenty individual investigator grants. The department prides itself on a collaborative research approach, constantly encouraging partnerships and innovative discovery.
Basic Research in the Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences is comprised of three predominant areas: Retinal function and genetic disorders, aging and diabetes including cataract research, and Immunology, Inflammation and Infectious Diseases.
Retinal studies include the role of cholesterol in acute macular degeneration (AMD), led by Dr. Irina Pikuleva. Drs. Akiko Maeda and Tadao Maeda also study AMD using murine moldels in which critical enzymes in the retinoic acid cycle are disrupted. Dr. Paul Park is focused on understanding the structure and function of rods and cones, and is relating his findings to inherited retinal diseases such as retinitis pigmentosa.
Dr. Ram Nagaraj has been studying the biochemical basis of cataract formation, including the role of small heat shock proteins, and is examining the mechanism of angiogenesis in diabetic retinopathy. Dr. Eric Pearlman has focused on the role of pathogen recognition molecules in the host response to corneal infections with the highly virulent bacteria Pseudomonas aeruginosa, and with fungal pathogens of the Fusarium and Aspergillus species, which comprise the major causes of microbial keratitis worldwide.
These investigators are supported by the Visual Sciences Research Center (VSRC) P-30 Core facility grant and VSRC T-32 Training grant. These grants also support visual sciences investigators in other departments, including Pharmacology, Medicine, Pathology, Molecular Biology and Chemistry.
For more information about each investigator and their research focus, please click on their name.
Principal Investigators
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Jonathan H. Lass, M.D. |
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Eric Pearlman, Ph.D. |
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Akiko Maeda, M.D., Ph.D. |
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Tadao Maeda, M.D., Ph.D. |
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Ram Nagaraj, Ph.D. |
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Paul Park, Ph.D. |
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Irina Pikuleva, Ph.D. |