Iowa Eye Association News Nov. 2003. Series 2, no. 38.

University of Iowa Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences

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Visiting Researchers

Dean Bok, PhD, professor of biology and the Dolly Green Professor of Ophthalmology at the University of California at Los Angeles School of Medicine, is serving during his sabbatical from UCLA as the 2003 Helen C. Levitt Visiting Professor in the Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences. The Levitt visiting professorship brings outstanding scholars from other institutions to the UI to lecture, consult with faculty and students, and devote time to research activities related to clinical care. Bok is working with Gregory Hageman, Ph.D. and Edwin Stone, M.D., Ph.D. Bok earned a doctorate in anatomy from the UCLA School of Medicine in 1968 and has been a member of its faculty since that time. He has served as a trustee of the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology and received the Friedenwald Award from that organization in 1985. He served as a member of the Visual Disorders Study Section from 1982 to 1986 (chair from 1984 to 1986) and recently completed a four-year term of service on the National Advisory Eye Council. Bok's research interests involve the cell and molecular biology of the retina in health and disease. His studies involve the interactions that take place between retinal photoreceptors and the retinal pigment epithelium (RPE) and how those processes are affected by inherited mutations that cause retinitis pigmentosa and macular degeneration. His contributions include the discovery of photoreceptor outer segment disc shedding, phagocytosis of these membranes by the RPE, the failure of this process in rat mutants (rdy), detection of membrane photoreceptors for the RPE and release of retinoids by the RPE, transgenic rescue of inherited degeneration in mice carrying the rds mutation, and the modeling of the equivalent human disease in mice through the introduction of point mutations in the mouse rds gene.

Some of Dr. Bok's recent publications include:

Stamer WD, Bok D, Hu J, Jaffe GJ, McKay BS. Aquaporin-1 channels in human retinal pigment epithelium: role in transepithelial water movement. Invest Ophthalmol Vis Sci. 2003;44(6):2803-8.

Bok D, Ruiz A, Yaron O, Jahng WJ, Ray A, Xue L, Rando RR. Purification and characterization of a transmembrane domain-deleted form of lecithin retinol acyltransferase. Biochemistry. 2003;42(20):6090-8.

Bok D. New insights and new approaches toward the study of age-related macular degeneration. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2002;99(23):14619-21.

Giuliana Silvestri, MD, is visiting Dr. Greg Hageman's Lab at the Oakdale Campus through December 2003. Dr. Silvestri is Senior Lecturer and Consultant Ophthalmic Surgeon for the Department of Ophthalmology of The Queen's University of Belfast (QUB) and the Head of Ophthalmology at QUB. She is also Programme Director for Ophthalmology for Northern Ireland, Regional Adviser for the Royal College of Ophthalmologists, and Adviser for Ophthalmology to the Postgraduate Council for Northern Ireland.

Some of Dr. Silvestri's recent publications include:

Lichanska AM, McGibbon D, Silvestri G, Hughes AE. A physical and expression map of the D17S1810-D17S1353 region spanning the central areolar choroidal dystrophy locus. Cytogenet Cell Genet. 2001;93(1-2):43-7.

Mallah MK, Hart PM, McClure M, Stevenson MR, Silvestri G, White ST, Chakravarthy U. Improvements in measures of vision and self-reported visual function after cataract extraction in patients with late-stage age-related maculopathy. Optom Vis Sci. 2001 Sep;78(9):683-8.

Stone EM, Lotery AJ, Munier FL, Heon E, Piguet B, Guymer RH, Vandenburgh K, Cousin P, Nishimura D, Swiderski RE, Silvestri G, Mackey DA, Hageman GS, Bird AC, Sheffield VC, Schorderet DF. A single EFEMP1 mutation associated with both Malattia Leventinese and Doyne honeycomb retinal dystrophy. Nat Genet. 1999 Jun;22(2):199-202.

Michael Abramoff, MD, PhD, will be working through mid-2004, with Dr. Randy Kardon and Dr. Young Kwon on the "Optical Functional Imaging of the Retina" project. Dr. Abramoff is from the University Hospital at Vrije Universiteit (Free University) in Amsterdam. He is a retina specialist as well as an epidemiologist, and a computer engineer.

Some of Dr. Abramoff's recent publications include:

van Leiden HA, Moll AC, Dekker JM, Abramoff MD, Polak BC. Photography or ophthalmoscopy for detection of diabetic retinopathy? Diabetes Care. 2003 Apr;26(4):1318-9.

Abramoff MD, Viergever MA. Computation and visualization of three-dimensional soft tissue motion in the orbit.IEEE Trans Med Imaging. 2002 Apr;21(4):296-304.

Abramoff MD, Kalmann R, de Graaf ME, Stilma JS, Mourits MP. Rectus extraocular muscle paths and decompression surgery for Graves orbitopathy: mechanism of motility disturbances. Invest Ophthalmol Vis Sci. 2002 Feb;43(2):300-7.

Abramoff MD, Ramos LP, Jansen GH, Mourits MP. Patients with persistent pain after enucleation studied by MRI dynamic color mapping and histopathology. Invest Ophthalmol Vis Sci. 2001 Sep;42(10):2188-92.

A. Hakan Durukan, MD, began working as an International Research Scholar in Vitreoretinal Surgery and Retinal Disease in August. He will be working with Dr. Stephen Russell in the Vitreoretinal Service until August of 2004. His main research project will involve the evaluation of a spectral fundus camera for retinal diseases. Dr. Durukan will also be working on other clinical and research projects as his time allows. Dr. Durukan is an ophthalmologist in Turkey and is employed by the Gulhane Medical Academy in Ankara, Turkey.

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