How eye cells remember damage in glaucoma
Role of cellular memory in glaucoma.
This project looks at how the cells that control fluid drainage in the eye keep a harmful 'memory' of past stress and stay dysfunctional in people with primary open-angle glaucoma.
Quick facts
| Grant type | R01 grant |
|---|---|
| Study type | NIH-funded research |
| Funding institution | Upstate Medical University NIH-funded |
| Lab location | 1 site (Syracuse, United States) |
| Project ID | NIH-11178368 on NIH RePORTER |
What this research studies
From a patient's point of view, researchers will grow human trabecular meshwork (TM) cells in lab-made gels that mimic the eye and repeatedly change the gel stiffness to imitate mechanical stress. They will watch how healthy TM cells recover after short stress while glaucomatous TM cells keep a pathological state, looking for the cellular steps that create and store that memory. The team will study a force-sensing protein called YAP and search for epigenetic or chromatin changes that let cells 'remember' past damage. All work centers on human TM cells and engineered tissues to link lab findings to the human disease.
Who could benefit from this research
Good fit: Ideal participants would be people with primary open-angle glaucoma or elevated intraocular pressure, especially those able to donate trabecular meshwork tissue or take part in related clinical follow-ups.
Not a fit: People with other glaucoma types such as angle-closure glaucoma or those with advanced irreversible optic nerve damage may not directly benefit from these findings.
Why it matters
Potential benefit: If successful, this work could point to new ways to reverse TM stiffening or identify drug targets to lower intraocular pressure in glaucoma patients.
How similar studies have performed: Research in other fibrotic tissues has linked mechanotransduction and YAP to lasting cellular changes, but applying these ideas to human TM mechanical memory is a newer and less-tested approach.
Where this research is happening
Syracuse, United States
- Upstate Medical University — Syracuse, United States (Active)
Researchers
- Principal investigator: Herberg, Samuel — Upstate Medical University
- Study coordinator: Herberg, Samuel
About this research
- This is an active NIH-funded research project — typically early-stage science, not a clinical trial accepting patient enrollment.
- Some NIH-funded labs run parallel clinical studies or seek volunteers for related work. To check, contact the principal investigator or institution listed above.
- For full project details, budget, and progress reports, visit the official NIH RePORTER page below.