Fiona McDonnell

RESEARCH:

Glaucoma pathophysiology

It is crucial to understand the mechanisms that occur in glaucomatous disease progression in order to better treat patients who suffer from the disease. Our primary goal is to understand what occurs in the tissues of the outflow pathway to raise intraocular pressure. Currently, we are examining the role that extracellular vesicles (EVs) play in regulating extracellular matrix in the outflow pathway and at the optic nerve head. The future goals of this research are to determine if EVs can be used as a systemic biomarker to identify glaucoma earlier in patients, and to see if we can use EVs for targeted treatment of the crucial tissues affected in the disease pathogenesis.

To reach these goals we use a unique technique with a custom-built system, called the iOnlyHuman (pictured above), to measure the functional capability of the conventional outflow pathway in cadaveric human tissue.

My Bibliography