Under the direction of Tim Corson, PhD, Merrill Grayson Senior Professor of Ophthalmology at the IU School of Medicine and Vice Chair for Basic and Translational Research at the Eugene and Marilyn Glick Eye Institute, the Corson Lab applies chemical biology to problems in vision science. The lab uses a wide variety of techniques, including high-throughput compound screening, novel compound development, and biochemical approaches to compound mechanism of action as well as more traditional techniques, including tissue culture, expression analyses, in vivo modeling, and molecular biology.
In addition to the testing of novel compounds in various angiogenesis models, the Corson Lab is interested in discovering how these compounds work at the molecular level by using chemical proteomics approaches. Current NEI R01-funded work focuses on the heme synthesis enzyme ferrochelatase, which is a target of cremastranone, and which the Corson Lab has shown is important for angiogenesis in vitro and in vivo. With this and other targets in hand, the Corson Lab research team will be better able to understand not only how antiangiogenic molecules work, but how else they may target the same systems pharmacologically to find new drug candidates.