The Meyer Lab, led by Jason Meyer, PhD, works to build better in vitro models to understand and treat neurodegenerative diseases through the use of human induced pluripotent stem cells. They primarily focus their studies on both glaucoma and Alzheimer’s disease as neurodegenerative diseases, with an emphasis upon both neuron-intrinsic causes of neurodegeneration as well as how glial cells modulate neurodegenerative phenotypes. To accomplish these goals, they commonly utilize tools and techniques including stem cells, organoids, CRISPR/Cas9 gene editing, RNA-seq, chemogenetics, and more.
Research Updates
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Current Research Funding
National Eye Institute R01EY033033, “Establishing a human cellular model of retinal ganglion cell compartmentalization in neurodegeneration and neuroinflammation"
National Eye Institute U24EY033269, “Overcoming barriers to retinal ganglion cell replacement in experimental glaucoma”
National Institute for Aging, RF1AG069425, “Deciphering the role of CX3CR1 in modulating mechanisms of amyloid driven neurodegeneration in Alzheimer’s disease
BrightFocus Foundation, “Exploring the role of the APBB2 risk variant in glaucoma with human induced pluripotent stem cells”
Recent Publications
Astrocytes modulate neurodegenerative phenotypes associated with glaucoma in OPTN(E50K) human stem cell-derived retinal ganglion cells.
Gomes C, VanderWall KB, Pan Y, Lu X, Lavekar SS, Huang KC, Fligor CM, Harkin J, Zhang C, Cummins TR, Meyer JS. Stem Cell Reports. 2022 Jul 12;17(7):1636-1649. doi: 10.1016/j.stemcr.2022.05.006. Epub 2022 Jun 16. PMID: 35714595.
Extension of retinofugal projections in an assembled model of human pluripotent stem cell-derived organoids.
Fligor CM, Lavekar SS, Harkin J, Shields PK, VanderWall KB, Huang KC, Gomes C, Meyer JS. Stem Cell Reports. 2021 Sep 14;16(9):2228-2241. doi: 10.1016/j.stemcr.2021.05.009. Epub 2021 Jun 10. PMID: 34115986.
Differentiation of retinal organoids from human pluripotent stem cells.
Fligor CM, Huang KC, Lavekar SS, VanderWall KB, Meyer JS. Methods Cell Biol. 2020;159:279-302. doi: 10.1016/bs.mcb.2020.02.005. Epub 2020 Mar 11. PMID: 32586447
Retinal Ganglion Cells With a Glaucoma OPTN(E50K) Mutation Exhibit Neurodegenerative Phenotypes when Derived from Three-Dimensional Retinal Organoids.
VanderWall KB, Huang KC, Pan Y, Lavekar SS, Fligor CM, Allsop AR, Lentsch KA, Dang P, Zhang C, Tseng HC, Cummins TR, Meyer JS. Stem Cell Reports. 2020 Jul 14;15(1):52-66. doi: 10.1016/j.stemcr.2020.05.009. Epub 2020 Jun 11. PMID: 32531194.
Three-Dimensional Retinal Organoids Facilitate the Investigation of Retinal Ganglion Cell Development, Organization and Neurite Outgrowth from Human Pluripotent Stem Cells.
Fligor CM, Langer KB, Sridhar A, Ren Y, Shields PK, Edler MC, Ohlemacher SK, Sluch VM, Zack DJ, Zhang C, Suter DM, Meyer JS. Sci Rep. 2018 Sep 28;8(1):14520. doi: 10.1038/s41598-018-32871-8. PMID: 30266927.
Research Team
Cátia Gomes
Postdoctoral Research Associate
Shruti Patil
Postdoctoral Research Associate
Melody Hernandez
Research Technician
Nusaiba Chowdhury
Research Technician
Alexandra Proctor
Research Technician
Jade Harkin
PhD student
Kaylee Tutrow
MD/PhD student
Austin Pierce
MS student