Ocular Immunology
Inflammation has been associated with the development and progression of severe retinal diseases, such as age-related macular degeneration (AMD) and retinal vein occlusion (RVO), characterized by impaired vision and even blindness. Considering that the prevalence of such pathologies is growing, it is of great importance to establish new pharmacological targets for the treatment of retinal diseases, to prevent vision loss and to improve the quality of the patient’s life. Therefore, the major research interests of our group is the investigation of the innate immune cells role in retinal disease, with emphasis in resident microglia and infiltrating myeloid-derived cells, as well as other inflammatory components such as cytokines and chemokines, and the complement cascade. To this aim, we employ experimental mouse models of choroidal neovascularization, retinal vein occlusion and lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced retinal inflammation, together with genetically modified animals, in vivo imaging techniques and molecular and cellular approaches. The goal of our research is to gain a better understanding on the role of innate immune cells in retinal disease progression and to investigate potential therapeutic targets.
