Polymeric scaffolds are revolutionizing therapeutics for blinding disorders affecting the outer retina, a region anatomically and functionally defined by light-sensitive photoreceptors. Recent engineering advances have produced planar scaffolds optimized for retinal pigment epithelium monolayer delivery, which are being tested in early stage clinical trials.
David Gamm
UW vision researchers partner with U.S. Department of Defense to develop stem cell therapy for combat-related eye injuries
The new project, titled Outer Retina Reconstruction for Combat Afflictions or ORRCA, is a collaboration between the McPherson Eye Research Insitute at UW‒Madison, the UW School of Medicine and Public Health, the UW College of Engineering, the University of Birmingham (UK) and British Ministry of Defence and the National Eye Institute. It is funded by a grant for more than $5 million from the U.S. Department of Defense (DOD).
UW researchers devise approach to treat rare, incurable form of blindness
Waisman Center investigator David Gamm, MD, PhD, and Waisman affiliate Kris Saha, PhD, have published a proof-of-concept method to correct Best disease – an inherited form of macular degeneration that causes blindness, and that is …
Grant awarded for eye disease research
A big congratulations to researcher Kim Edwards and Waisman investigator David Gamm, MD, PhD, on winning the inaugural Randy Wheelock Research Award. Gamm is also an associate professor of ophthalmology and visual science as well as the director of the McPherson Eye Research Institute.
‘This can be changed’: Verona family carries on daughter’s fight to end vision diseases
A recent story on Channel 3000 highlights the efforts by the family of Kenzi Valentyn to raise money for vision research in their daughter’s name. Waisman investigator David Gamm focuses on using stem cells to …
David Gamm, MD, PhD – Slide of the Week
Numerous protocols have been described that produce neural retina from human pluripotent stem cells (hPSCs), many of which are based on the culture of 3D organoids. While nearly all such methods yield at least partial segments of highly mature-appearing retinal structure, variabilities exist within and between organoids that can change over a protracted time course of differentiation.
UW researcher using stem cells to create ‘spare part’ for blindness
To mark the 20th anniversary of the stem cell discovery at UW-Madison, the Wisconsin State Journal featured a series of stories on stem cell research, highlighting the work of Waisman Center investigators David Gamm, Anita …
Years after promise of stem cells seemed to be fading, clinical trials underway
A story in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reflects on the history of stem cells and its future direction. Two decades after the first stem cell breakthrough, the promising biological discovery is beginning to take steps …
Scientists seek to improve quality control for genome editing therapies in the eye
Waisman Center investigator David Gamm, MD, PhD, and affiliate Krishanu Saha, PhD, are part of a team of scientists at the University of Wisconsin- Madison who were recently granted a major award from the National …
David Gamm, MD, PhD
Cell type-specific investigations commonly employ gene reporters or single-cell (sc) analytical techniques. However, reporter line development is arduous and generally limited to a single gene of interest, while scRNA-seq frequently yields equivocal results that preclude definitive cell identification.