FOR RELEASE: JANUARY 13, 1999
Contact: Larry Bernard Phone: (617) 912-2548 [email protected]
EDITORS: You are welcome to cover this conference. Contact Larry Bernard,(617) 912-2548, if you would like to attend or for abstracts.
Cornea research is topic of major conference Jan. 22-23 at Schepens Institute
Research presentations to attack the leading cause of worldwide blindness
BOSTON -- What makes the cornea transparent?
If scientists could answer that, perhaps they could determine ways to maintain that transparency when it is lost due to injury or disease. And that could help prevent the leading cause of blindness in the world today -- the loss of corneal transparency.
But it's no easy task. The cornea -- the outermost segment of the eye through which light first passes -- is made up of three layers, each with its own distinct cells, proteins and molecules.
Any damage to the cornea results in a wound-healing process accompanied by an inevitable loss of transparency. Hazing from scar tissue could form from surgical procedures, for example, such as refractive laser surgery, in which the cornea is reshaped to correct nearsightedness. If the physician could predict whether a scar would form, that could be of enormous benefit to the patient.
Cornea researchers from around the world will gather Jan. 22-23 in Boston to discuss the state of research of the cornea and present the latest scientific information about genes, proteins, cells and molecules that make up the cornea.
"Through the Looking Glass: Macromolecular Morphogenesis," is a two-day conference at The Schepens Eye Research Institute scheduled for 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Friday and Saturday, Jan. 22-23. The event will be held in the Institute's new Starr Center for Scientific Communications, second floor, Charles River Plaza, Cambridge Street, Boston.
"Understanding the structure and function of the cornea -- the watch crystal of the eye -- is critical in our effort to protect sight," said Charles Cintron, Ph.D., Senior Scientist at The Schepens Eye Research Institute and host of the conference. "It's an amazing tissue. It's made up of the same material as a leather belt -- collagen -- yet is transparent. How can that be?"
While the cornea is the most transplanted organ in the United States, many countries do not have ready access to healthy corneal tissue, so transplantation is not an option.
Among the symposia topics are:
ï Wound healing. This session will examine why the cornea is transparent and why scars that form on it are not; how the cornea regulates itself and how it forms so that it is transparent. This is relevant to other parts of the body as well, as scientists are looking at regenerating corneal tissue.
ï Macromolecules. The cornea's major layer, the stroma, is made up of collagens and proteoglycans. Collagens and proteoglycans come in many types, and scientists are starting to unravel how they interact, their differences and similarities, to try to determine what makes them transparent.
ï Genetic disorders. The cornea may lose transparency due to a class of genetic disorders that cause blindness by leaving deposits on the cornea. These diseases, known as granular, lattice, Avellino, and Reis Buchler corneal dystrophies, are caused by a mutation to one gene, known as beta ig-h 3. Scientists are looking at ways, through genetic engineering techniques, of repairing the mutant gene. Also, understanding the function of that gene product may yield clues to the cornea's transparency.
ï Cellular function. The cells that synthesize extracellular matrix proteins, called keratocytes, put the stroma together. Understanding what they do and how they do it may help eliminate blinding diseases.
Cintron's research is on wound healing of the cornea. He and co-researchers believe that the material between the collagen rods in the cornea is responsible for maintaining proper spacing. When the intermolecular spacing changes, scar tissue may form.
Cintron's research could lead the way to gene therapy for improved wound healing, such as after refractive laser surgery. His laboratory is looking for ways to turn on or off the appropriate genes in cells, to have healing tissue form a transparent structure, instead of an opaque scar. To this end, Cintron and his colleagues have created a novel in vitro model to study the effect of various gene therapies on scar formation.
A Ph.D. graduate of the University of Connecticut, Cintron settled in Boston in 1970 to accept a postdoctoral fellowship at the Retina Foundation (now The Schepens Eye Research Institute). He rose in the ranks to Senior Scientist, with an Associate Professorship in the Department of Ophthalmology at Harvard Medical School.
Cintron is on the Editorial Board of the journal Investigative Ophthalmology and Vision Science, and is a member of several scientific organizations, including the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology. He is the author of numerous scientific papers and book chapters.
The Schepens Eye Research Institute, an affiliate of Harvard Medical School, is the largest independent eye research center in the nation, both in size of faculty and support from the National Eye Institute. It has a renowned faculty of more than 60 scientists, including immunologists, molecular and cell biologists and physicists who investigate cures for blinding eye diseases and aids for people with low vision. Many diagnostic techniques and devices, surgical methods and medications related to eye disease were developed by Institute faculty.
Here is the program for the symposium, "Through the Looking Glass": Macromolecular Morphogenesis, Jan. 22-23 at The Schepens Eye Research Institute:
FRIDAY, JANUARY 22
9-9:05 a.m. Welcome
J. Wayne Streilein, M.D., President
Schepens Eye Research Institute
9:05 - 9:10 a.m. Welcome
Charles Cintron, Ph.D., Senior Scientist
Schepens Eye Research Institute
SESSION 1-- TRANSPARENCY
9:10 - 9:40 a.m. Richard Farrell, Ph.D.
Johns Hopkins University
9:40 - 10 a.m. C. R. Worthington, Ph.D.
Carnegie-Mellon University
10 - 10:20 a.m. George Benedek, Ph.D.
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
10:20 - 10:40 a.m. Keith Meek, Ph.D.
Cardiff University
10:40 - 10:55 a.m. Break
10:55 - 11:10 a.m. Gerald Eliott, Ph.D
University of Wales
11:10 - 11:25 a.m. David Maurice, Ph.D.
Columbia University
11:25 - 11:40 a.m. Russell McCally, Ph.D.
The Wilmer Eye Institute
11:40 - 12 p.m. Panel Discussion
Moderator: Richard Farrell
SESSION 2 -- EXTRACELLULAR MATRIX I
COLLAGENS
1:30 - 1:50 p.m. Plenary Lecture
David Birk, Ph.D.
Jefferson Medical College
2 - 2:15 p.m. Thomas Linsenmayer, Ph.D.
Tufts University School of Medicine
2:15 - 2:30 p.m. Robert Burgeson, Ph.D.
Massachusetts General Hospital
2:30 - 2:45 p.m. Richard Mayne, Ph.D.
University of Alabama
2:45 - 3 p.m. Break
PROTEOGLYCANS
3 - 3:30 p.m. Plenary Lecture
John Hassell, Ph.D.
University of South Florida College of Medicine
3:30 - 3:45 p.m. Winston Kao, Ph.D.
University of Cincinnati Medical Center
3:45 - 4 p.m. Renato Iozzo, Ph.D.
Thomas Jefferson University
4 - 4:15 p.m. Break
4:15 - 4:30 p.m. Gary Conrad, Ph.D.
Kansas State University
4:30 - 4:45 p.m. Shukti Charkravarti, Ph.D.
Case Western Reserve University
4:45 - 5:15 p.m. Panel Discussion
Moderators: David Birk and John Hassell
SATURDAY, JANUARY 23
SESSION 3--EXTRACELLULAR MATRIX II
bIG-H3/bIG/RGD-CAP/KERATO-EPITHELIN
9 - 9:20 a.m. Plenary Lecture
Gordon Klintworth, M.D., Ph.D.
Duke University Medical Center
9:20 - 9:40 a.m. Francis Munier, M.D.
University of Lausanne
9:40 - 10 a.m. Barbara Streeten, M.D.
State University of New York Health Science Center
10 - 10:20 a.m. Richard LeBaron, Ph.D.
University of Texas at San Antonio
10:20 - 10:40 a.m. Break
10:40 - 11 a.m. Charles Cintron, Ph.D.
Schepens Eye Research Institute
10:45 - 11 a.m. Kelly Bennett, Ph.D.
Bristol-Myers Squibb Pharmaceutical Research Institute
11:20 - 12 p.m. Panel Discussion
Moderator: Gordon Klintworth
SESSION 4--KERATOCYTES
MATRIX SYNTHESIS AND DEGREDATION
1:30 - 1:40 p.m. Introduction
Elizabeth Fini, Ph.D.
Tufts University School of Medicine
1:40 - 1:55 p.m. Marion Gordon, Ph.D.
Rutgers University
1:55 - 2:10 p.m. Nirmala SundarRaj, Ph.D.
University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine
2:10 - 2:25 p.m. Beatrice Yue, Ph.D.
University of Illinois College of Medicine
2:25 - 2:40 p.m. Vickery Trinkaus-Randall, Ph.D.
Boston University School of Medicine
2:40 - 2:55 p.m. James Funderburgh, Ph.D.
Kansas State University
3 p.m.-3:15 p.m. Break
PHENOTYPE
3:15 - 3:30 p.m. Sandra Masur, Ph.D.
Mount Sinai School of Medicine
3:30 - 3:45 p.m. James Jester, Ph.D.
University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center
3:45 - 4 p.m. Kathleen Doane, Ph.D.
Northeastern Ohio Universities College of Medicine
4 - 4:15 p.m. Steve Wilson, M.D.
University of Washington
4:15 - 4:30 p.m. Eunduck Kay, Ph.D.
University of Southern California School of Medicine
4:30 - 4:45 p.m. Panel Discussion
Moderator: Elizabeth Fini, Ph.D.
5 - 5:15 p.m. Closing Remarks
Charles Cintron
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