Immune Regulation and Neuroinflamation in the Eye
The research in the Sun Laboratory mainly focuses on the immune regulation and neuroinflammation in retinal angiogenesis and retinal degeneration. Pathological proliferation of blood vessels is a major cause of blindness, including retinopathy of prematurity and age-related macular degeneration. Inflammation and changes in immune function are clearly involved in the development of these diseases, but the underlying mechanisms have not been well defined and the ways to control inflammation are not clear. Our aims are to understand how immune cells control neovascularization and retinal degeneration as well as the roles of immune-vascular crosstalk and neuroimmune communications in retinopathy of prematurity and age-related macular degeneration. Our lab focuses on identifying novel immune regulators that can control retinal angiogenesis through modulating neuroimmune communication or immune vascular crosstalk and neuroinflammation, which can potentially lead to novel disease treatments for retinopathy of prematurity and age-related macular degeneration.
