Dr. Don Zack will be the guest speaker at the upcoming Fox Center for Vision Restoration lecture on Friday, November 22, 2013. He will present "Neuroprotective Strategies for the Treatment of Glaucoma and the Retinal Degenerations."  Dr. Zack is a Guerrieri Professor of Genetic Engineering and Molecular Ophthalmology at the Wilmer Eye Institute, Johns Hopkins University.

Dr. Zack's lab studies the molecular biology of retinal development and the mechanisms of photoreceptor and ganglion cell injury and death. Stem cells as a tool for investigating human retinal development and dystrophy has emerged as a major area of focus for his lab. Dr. Zack's work has implications for diseases such as retinal degeneration, macular degeneration, and glaucoma. He is interested in the mechanisms that regulate retina-specific gene expression and alternative splicing within the retina, both during development and degeneration. He has identified and characterized a number of the regulatory elements and transcription factors that regulate rod and cone opsin gene expression, and has defined some of the gene expression changes associated with photoreceptor degeneration. Additionally, in work with the Wilmer HCS Facility, he is actively screening small and large molecule libraries for potentially neuroprotective molecules, and exploring their mechanism of action. After testing these various molecules in vitro he tests them in various rodent models of glaucoma and photoreceptor degeneration.