|
Radha Ayyagari, Ph.D. Associate Professor of Ophthalmology, recently joined the faculty at the Shiley Eye Center, University of California, San Diego. Prior to joining the faculty at UCSD Dr. Ayyagari was Assistant Professor at the Kellogg Eye Center, University of Michigan. She received her Ph.D. in Biochemistry from the National Institute of Nutrition, Hyderabad in India. Subsequently, she obtained her post-doctoral training in Molecular Genetics at the National Eye Institute, in Bethesda, Maryland. She joined the Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences at the University of Michigan after completing her post-doctoral training in1996. The focus of Dr. Ayyagari’s research is to determine the biological mechanisms underlying hereditary retinal and macular degenerations. She studies patients and families with mendelian and complex retinal conditions and identifies gene mutations responsible for these diseases. Once a mutation is identified, her laboratory develops mouse models that carry these mutations to study the mechanism underlying the disease. These studies will help unravel the cellular biochemistry affected due to mutations and provide information necessary to maintain the retina in a healthy state. These studies will also help lead to therapeutic strategies to treat or delay the onset of vision-threatening conditions. Currently she is using some of the animal models developed in her lab to evaluate potentially therapeutic compounds. At the Kellogg Eye Center Dr. Ayyagari provided Ophthalmic Molecular Diagnostic testing to patients with hereditary ophthalmic conditions . She will continue this work at her new institution in the near future. Ophthalmic molecular diagnostic testing helps to determine the genetic basis of a disease, provides specific diagnosis, identification of individuals at risk to develop the disease, carrier testing, and more importantly, identification of individuals that are suitable for some of the emerging gene-based treatments. Dr. Ayyagari developed microarray based sequencing arrays to efficiently screen multiple retinal genes for mutations on a single platform. Dr. Ayyagari received the Frank A. Bennack, Jr. Research Fellowship from the Foundation Fighting Blindness, USA in 1999, the Sybil B. Barrington Scholar award from Research to Prevent Blindness, NY in 2000 and the University of Michigan Research Faculty Recognition Award for basic science in 2004. She has published more than 55 papers in scientific journals. |
