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Rene Choi PhD (2nd year) choir@upstate.edu Department: Biochemistry & Molecular Biology Advisor: M. Zuber, PhD

Research Interests:

My research project consists of developing cell transplantation
therapies for retinal diseases that lead to blindness. The
most common retinal diseases in the western world are Retinitis
Pigmentosa and Age-Related Macular Degeneration. These two diseases
have the same end-results, which is the irreversible death of
photoreceptors. My project entails using 7 key eye field transcription
factors, which are necessary and sufficient to develop a fully
functional eye in the frog species Xenopus laevis, to reprogram
primitive ectoderm cells into retinal stem cells. I will then
determine the ability of these reprogrammed retinal stem cells to
replenish lost photoreceptors in a mature retinal environment.