Swindle-Reilly receives NIH award to study how cataract surgery influences lens epithelial cell behaviors

Congratulations to Katelyn Swindle-Reilly, Assistant Professor in the departments of BiomedicalEngineering and Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, for recently receiving a 2-year award from the National Institutes of Health in the amount of $404,000 for her research titled “Lens Epithelial Cell Response to Biomaterial Interfaces”. Dr. Swindle-Reilly is the lead PI on the project and her co-Investigators are Heather Chandler, Associate Professor, College of Optometry and Derek Hansford, Associate Professor, Biomedical Engineering. Swindle-Reilly and her team of collaborators uses biomaterials approaches to understand how cataract surgery influences lens epithelial cell behaviors.

Project summary: Following cataract surgery, a common complication called posterior capsule opacification (PCO) occurs when residual lens epithelial cells (LEC) migrate from the anterior to the posterior lens or onto the intraocular lens (IOL) and undergo epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EMT). The overall objective of this project is to determine how substrate viscoelasticity and curvature impact LEC behavior and EMT by using copolymers and hydrogels that mimic implants and the native lens microenvironment, respectively.

Congratulations Dr. Swindle-Reilly and team!