Gorbatyuk Laboratory. Research
Dr. Smith, his colleagues and students study the neurobiological mechanism that operates in the juvenile eye to match axial length to the optical power, producing eyes in good focus (emmetropia). The goals of this research are to learn how emmetropia is normally produced, how the emmetropization mechanism is disrupted to produce myopia or hyperopia, and how to prevent myopia from developing in children. We use optical, ultrasound, histological and biochemical and molecular biology techniques to study this in tree shrews, mammals closely related to primates. It appears that a vision-dependent retinal signal during postnatal development controls the axial elongation rate by controlling the biochemical makeup and biomechanical properties of the sclera. Current studies are investigating changes in mRNA levels and protein levels in the retina and sclera of eyes that are developing an induced myopia to understand the signaling pathways that control axial length. Dr. Norton is currently principal investigator of NIH/NEI grant EY05922. In addition, Dr. Norton and colleagues are developing the tree shrew as an animal model for glaucoma.
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Fig. 1. Tree shrew wearing a goggle frame used to hold a lens in front of one eye. Tree shrew wearing a goggle frame used to hold a lens in front of one eye. |
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Fig. 2. A concave (negative-power) lens held in front of an eye creates hyperopia (B) in a few days; (C) the eye elongates moving the retina to the shifted focal plane. When the lens is removed (D), the eye is myopic. Young eyes can recover from induced myopia. |
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Several types of lab rotations are available to help you learn new techniques and see how our lab works: 1) learn real-time PCR techniques to find mRNA changes in the retina, retinal pigment epithelium (RPE), choroid, or sclera of eyes that are developing myopia; 2) work with tree shrews wearing goggles to learn what makes eyes enlarge; 3) learn about how dopamine D1 and D2 receptors may be involved in the retinal circuits that control eye size.
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Fig. 7. RNA-Seq (whole transcriptome analysis) provides a list of most of the genes that are expressed in a tissue (retina, RPE, choroid, or sclera) and differences in their abundance in treated eyes vs. untreated control eyes. This helps identify genes to be examined with real-time PCR. |
Dr. Norton, his colleagues and students study the neurobiological mechanism that operates in the juvenile eye to match axial length to the optical power, producing eyes in good focus (emmetropia). The goals of this research are to learn how emmetropia is normally produced, how the emmetropization mechanism is disrupted to produce myopia or hyperopia, and how to prevent myopia from developing in children. We use optical, ultrasound, histological and biochemical and molecular biology techniques to study this in tree shrews, mammals closely related to primates. It appears that a vision-dependent retinal signal during postnatal development controls the axial elongation rate by controlling the biochemical makeup and biomechanical properties of the sclera. Current studies are investigating changes in mRNA levels and protein levels in the retina and sclera of eyes that are developing an induced myopia to understand the signaling pathways that control axial length. Dr. Norton is currently principal investigator of NIH/NEI grant EY05922. In addition, Dr. Norton and colleagues are developing the tree shrew as an animal model for glaucoma.