Jonathan Soucy, PhD
University of Wisconsin-Madison
Profile
About the Speaker: Jonathan Soucy is an Assistant Professor of Biomedical Engineering at the University of Wisconsin-Madison (beginning July 2026), where he leads the Neural Engineering for Restoring Vision (NERV) Lab. His research focuses on engineering the tissue microenvironment to enable retinal ganglion cell (RGC) transplantation and neural circuit repair. His lab studies how the visual system develops, remodels, and can be repaired after injury or disease using ex vivo and stem cell-derived models of the retina, optic nerve, and retinorecipient targets in the brain. By integrating retinal organoids, neuronal transplantation, microphysiological systems, and electrophysiology, his work aims to uncover principles of neuroplasticity and translate them into regenerative strategies to restore vision.
Dr. Soucy earned his PhD in Chemical Engineering from Northeastern University, where he developed organ-on-chip models of the cardiac nervous system and biomaterials for nerve repair. He completed postdoctoral training at Harvard Medical School and the Schepens Eye Research Institute in Dr. Petr Baranov’s lab, where he studied retinal ganglion cell differentiation and transplantation. His work has been supported by multiple fellowships and awards, including the NEI K99/R00 Pathway to Independence Award, and he was named a 2024 Rising Star in Engineering in Health.
For Further Information, Contact: Clark Kellogg at kellogg@waisman.wisc.edu
The seminar series is funded by the John D. Wiley Conference Center Fund, the Friends of the Waisman Center and Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) grant P50HD105353.
