Home Department: Biology
Mentor: Jeffrey L. Goldberg (Ophthalmology)

“Novel Biomarkers in Glaucoma for Neuroprotection and Vision Restoration”

Glaucoma is the leading cause of irreversible blindness and affects more than 80 million people worldwide. The goal of Katherine’s research is to study retinal structure-function correlation to discover biomarkers which will improve early diagnosis, prognosis, and evaluation of therapeutic response in glaucoma patients. She will analyze structural changes of axon atrophy and retinal nerve fiber layer thickness using visible-light optical coherence tomography (vis-OCT) and correlate this to the functional analysis with visual field defects and visually evoked potential electroencephalograms. Her passion to turn “irreversible” to “reversible” vision loss motivates her pursuit and dedication to glaucoma research..