Bio

Sherry Hikita received her B.S. in Biological Sciences from University of California, Davis. She worked at Children's Hospital/Harvard Medical School as a research associate for several years before pursuing graduate education at University of California, Santa Barbara, where she earned her Ph.D. in Molecular, Cellular and Developmental Biology. Her doctoral research examined the role of osteopontin, a novel matrix protein found in the vertebrate eye, during retinal development and disease. Following her postdoctoral research at the Neuroscience Research Institute and Center for the Study of Macular Degeneration at University of California, Santa Barbara, where she investigated mechanisms involved in stem cell differentiation into retinal pigment epithelium, she was appointed as Director of the Laboratory for Stem Cell Biology. Dr. Hikita has received training in human embryonic stem cell culture at Stanford University and the Burnham Institute.

Research Interests

• Stem cell biology - mechanisms involved with ocular cell differentiation and maintenance of cell identity
• The role of inflammation in ocular disease