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”
Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health
(ARPA-H), “THEIA: Total Human Eye-allotransplantation
Innovation Advancement”
National
Institute for Aging, RF1AG069425, “Deciphering the role of CX3CR1 in modulating
mechanisms of amyloid driven neurodegeneration in Alzheimer’s disease”
Gilbert Family
Foundation, 923016, “Cellular contributions to NF1 optic nerve pathology in
next-generation models”
BrightFocus
Foundation, “Exploring the role of the APBB2 risk variant in glaucoma with
human induced pluripotent stem cells”
Recent Publications
Acquisition of neurodegenerative features in isogenic OPTN(E50K) human stem cell-derived retinal ganglion cells associated with autophagy dysfunction and mTORC1 signaling reduction.
Huang KC, Gomes C, Shiga Y, Belforte N,
VanderWall KB, Lavekar SS, Fligor CM, Harkin J, Hetzer SM, Patil SV, Di Polo A,
Meyer JS. Acta Neuropathologica Commun. 2024 Oct 18; 12(1):164. doi:
10.1186/s40478-024-01872-2.
Induction of astrocyte reactivity promotes neurodegeneration in human pluripotent stem cell models.
Gomes C, Huang KC, Harkin J, Baker A,
Hughes JM, Pan Y, Tutrow K, VanderWall KB, Lavekar SS, Hernandez M, Cummins TR,
Canfield SG, Meyer JS. Stem Cell Reports. 2024 Aug 13; 19(8):1122-1136.
doi: 10.1016/j.stemcr.2024.07.002. Epub 2024 Aug 1.
A highly reproducible and efficient method for retinal organoid differentiation from human pluripotent stem cells.
Harkin J, Peña KH, Gomes C, Hernandez M,
Lavekar SS, So K, Lentsch K, Feder EM, Morrow S, Huang KC, Tutrow KD, Morris A,
Zhang C, Meyer JS. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA. 2024 Jun
18;121(25):e2317285121. doi: 10.1073/pnas.2317285121.
Development of a three-dimensional organoid model to explore early retinal phenotypes associated with Alzheimer’s disease.
Lavekar SS, Harkin J, Hernandez M, Gomes
C, Patil S, Huang KC, Puntambekar SS, Lamb BT, Meyer JS. Sci Rep. 2023 Aug
24;13(1):13827. doi: 10.1038/s41598-023-40382-4.
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.
Research Team
Cátia Gomes, Assistant Research Professor
Shruti Patil, Postdoctoral Research Associate
Shelby Hetzer, Postdoctoral Research Associate
Teresa Gomez, Research Specialist
George Chittum, Research Specialist
Kaylee Tutrow, MSTP student
Aaron Baker, PhD Student
Kiersten Peña, PhD Student
Laurna Varghese, Masters Student
Kate Cowger, Technician
Carson Prosser, Technician
Karly Hooper, Technician
Sherry Scott, Technician
Victoria Phillips, Technician