Targeted areas include the generation of ocular cells for the treatment of eye disease; neural cells that might prove therapeutic for Alzheimer's Disease and Parkinson's disease, and pancreatic cells for applications in diabetes. These projects will include delivery of stem cells in animal models of disease, and will be facilitated by partnering with clinical researchers at other institutions.
Faculty Research
Steve Fisher
MCDB, NRI
Cellular mechanisms of retinal detachment, neural circuitry in the vertebrate retina, and bio-image informatics.
Lincoln Johnson
NRI, CSMD
Cellular and molecular processes that cause age-related macular degeneration; ocular differentiation of hESCs.
Lois Jovanovic
Adjunct Prof, BMSE; Director of Sansum Diabetes Research Institute
Intravascular glucose sensors to regulate insulin infusions of type I diabetics; novel biomaterials for the differentiation of pancreatic precursor cells from hESCs.
Tod Kippin
Psychology
Functional consequences and mechanisms of neurogenesis in the adult mammalian brain and how adult neural stem cells are involved in neural disease.
Alois Zauner
Santa Barbara Cottage Hospital
Endovascular and open vascular neurosurgery including treatment of brain aneurysms, arteriovenous malformations, strokes, and other vascular diseases of the brain, head and neck area, and spinal cord.