Nickname: Priya

Hometown: Kangra, HP

Graduate School: SGGS,Panjab University, Chandigarh

Current affiliation: Massachusetts Eye and Ear, Harvard Medical School, Boston, USA

E-mail: priyamehra293@gmail.com

More about you

I am hardworking, highly motivated, versatile, goal oriented, honest and quick learner person with self-motivated thoughts. My strength is my family.  I am passionate about my work. I thrive on challenges and constantly set goals for myself, so I have something to strive towards. In free time, I love to do painting, gardening, travelling, trekking, reading, play badminton etc.

How would you explain your research in 3 sentences to someone who is not in science?

Eye and brain are interconnected to each other involve in neuronal signalling, vasculature and immune response. The receptors in the retina receive the visual signals and transport them to the optic nerve to the brain in visual cortex where the visual image formation occur. It is complex group of disorders that lead to the loss of photoreceptors cause untreatable sight-loss and currently there is a lack of effective treatments. My area of interest is to investigate effect of laser injury on visual spatial memory and the potency of stem cells to rescue the injury by subretinal transplantation into the mice model.

About your work:

We established a mouse model at different degrees of laser-induced retinal injury by laser photocoagulator. The disruption in the RPE- Bruch’s membrane interface, resulting in retinal degeneration, was validated by Fundus Fluorescein Angiography (FFA) and histological characterization. Lin-ve stem cells derived from human umbilical cord blood were isolated by the MACS apparatus. Through flow cytometry, isolated Lin-ve stem cells were characterized for surface markers CD45, 34 and 117 and the number of CD34 cells was significantly high. In the laser-injured mouse model, 50,000 Lin-ve stem cells were transplanted after 24h of laser injury. Subretinal transplantation was done at the RPE-retina junction adjacent to the laser shots. The animals were sacrificed after one month to analyse the time-dependent effect of the stem cells. Neurobehavioral tests were done in which it was found that 2 laser + stem cell mouse models have rescued memory loss in comparison to 2 laser injury models. Similar results were found in a passive avoidance test, mice spent more time in the light region in 2 laser + stem cells, 4 laser + stem cells and 8 laser + stem cell groups to avoid electric shock in darker regions. The retinal samples were analysed for gene expression through IHC and Real-time PCR for retinal, neurotropic, proliferative and apoptotic markers. The data have shown that milder injury (2 laser) rescued faster than severe injury (8 laser injury). The stem cell may be able to proliferate at the target site and may have shown neuroprotective function after increase in BDNF and CNTF expression. Based on this data, we propose that the Lin-ve stem cells tend to get localized in the RPE, and were able to reverse the injury by neuroprotective effect in mild injury. Our study supports the basis for the Lin-ve stem cells studied for degeneration and repair. The study demonstrated the role of Lin-ve stem cells in visual impairment rescue and its influence on visual-spatial memory. However, more research may be conducted to analyse the effect of retinal damage on the hippocampus in the brain and how stem cells restore memory and visual functions, as well as to assess the brain section to investigate the morphological alterations involved in the visual pathway after retinal injury. In future investigations, it will be interesting to analyse the possible molecular route implicated in hippocampal alterations caused by retinal damage to gain further insights. Understanding the pathophysiology of retinal degeneration along with visuospatial functions in higher primates, stem cell transplantation provides neuroprotection and to replenish damaged cells is an emerging therapeutic approach to treat retinal disorders.

How was your experience in Neuroscience Research Lab, how did it contribute to your academic or professional development?

It was a great experience in GLP compliance. It helps a lot in both personal and professional life. I learned how to work independently and in a team, how to be more analytical in my work, and how to ask the important questions that led to new discoveries. The three most important rules that make your PhD journey valuable 1. Perseverance 2. Consistency and 3. Transparency and Confidentiality. Dr Akshay Anand always encouraged us to get involve in each activity during PhD journey.

What are your research interests?

Visual Impairment, Neuro-ophthalmology, Neurobehavioral, Retinal degeneration and cognition