The works covered can be found in these articles: Tissue, cellular, and molecular level determinants for eye lens stiffness and elasticity & Eph-ephrin signaling affects lens growth and shape, nucleus size, and gradient refractive index in adult mice.
Last month, Dr. Cheng was invited to present the lab's new work on lens biomechanics at the 2026 Borish Clinical Research Symposium!
Ever been curious about how different goat eyes are from mouse or human eyes? Read all about it from this blog post that Dr. Cheng helped contribute to, Goat Vision: More Than Meets the Eye. www.thegoatconspiracy.com/barn-buzz/20...
In December, Dr. Cheng attended the International Conference on the Lens. She presented the lab's most recent, surprising work on how lens growth, nucleus size, and gradient refractive index is affected by Eph-ephrin signaling. She also caught up with colleagues feat. Dr. Fowler and Dr. Parreno!
We are very excited to have Emily Susanto and Kelsa Bartels join the lab while pursuing their OD/MS! We look forward to what they will achieve in the future! Welcome again Kelsa and Emily! #academicsky
Recently, Gryffin officially completed his Masters Degree requirements, based on the hard work that he has done in the lab! His thesis is titled: Eph-ephrin signaling affects lens growth and shape, nucleus size, and gradient refractive index in adult mice. Congratulations Gryffin!
Congratulations and thank you to Kehao Wang, Masato Hoshino, Kentaro Uesugi, Naoto Yagi, and Barbara Pierscionek for their collaboration!
Congrats Gryffin! His first First Author article challenges the belief that increased lens size with age, particularly of the nucleus, is the primary cause of presbyopia. It further describes roles that Eph-ephrin signaling has in lens development. #VisionScience Read here doi.org/10.3389/foph...
Not too long ago, Yuka came to visit our lab and collaborated with some projects! We're grateful for the visit and look forward to her next one!
Our new protocol shows how to cleanly isolate RNA from mouse lens epithelium and bulk fiber cell mass for qPCR. Prior, limited amounts of RNA could be extracted from the monolayer of epi. cells, thus sample pooling. Now, we can get better in-depth analysis, no pooling. app.jove.com/t/69079/rna-...
Early in October, Dr. Catherine Cheng presented Gryffin's masters thesis project about age-related changes in ocular lens biomechanics and morphometrics in regards to implications for presbyopia. It was great time sharing knowledge at the 2025 AOSA Midwestern Regional Conference!
As Halloween approaches, the lab celebrated Gryffin's birthday! Yet another spooky event for the month of October. Happy Birthday Gryffin!
We wish you all the best Dr. Hsuan-Yeh Pan! We've known Hsuan-Yeh since before he earned his doctorate and have enjoyed funny conversations with him as lab neighbors. We hope to see you at some conferences soon!
This year's HVRS went great! Well done presenting your talks Gryffin and Isaiah! Also, we really enjoyed learning about the research happening from other institutes! We are eager to hear research updates at next year's symposium!
After 2.5 years, @peterhuynh.bsky.social has decided to explore new career opportunities. Thanks for sharing your insight & experience. You've significantly improved our ability to analyze & refine vast, complex lens data. We'll miss your humor & diligence and wish you the best in your explorations!
This past month, the lab went to waft Wally for the second time! He was not shy about sharing the reason why he's classified as a corpse flower! Looking forward to scenting you again soon Wally!
The lab recently celebrated Jenna and Michael's birthdays by the vine at Butler Winery! It was a great time eating, drinking, and playing games! Happy Birthday you two!
https://www.frontiersin.org/research-topics/54412/women-in-lens-and-cataract/magazine
The article collection where Dr. Barbara Pierscionek & Dr. Cheng were co-editors was published in May! Together, they wrote an editorial highlighting 7 original research & 2 reviews on lens & cataract research. eBook of the entire collection is available below! tinyurl.com/2b3b2nc8
#VisionScience
Dr. Dawn Meyer, research optometrist, and Dazia Wilkins, research technician, demonstrating what an eye exam at the Atwater Eye Care Clinic is like.
Members of the Cheng lab at IUSO presenting anatomical examples of the eye.
Gummy bears being used to demonstrate the difference between light absorption and light reflectance.
Sunglasses dispensing station where the GEMS participants can choose free sunglasses, made by the IUSO optometry students, that will protect their eyes!
In March, the School of Optometry volunteered to run some #VisionScience activities for the young visionaries at GEMS 2025! As always, the kids' excitement and curiosity were off the charts, making it a great time! We are looking forward to continuing sharing our knowledge about the eye in 2026!
The lab celebrated Isaiah's birthday a few months ago, but who doesn't appreciate a belated birthday post? Happy Birthday Isaiah!
We had a great visit from Dr. Yuka Okada in March! Enjoy a photo from when we took a break from collaborating! See you again soon, Dr. Okada!
Gryffin presented his lab work at Oxyopia on March 28th. Titled: "Eph-ephrin signaling is required for normal lens growth, shape, and nucleus stiffness". His work examined mechanical properties of the lens. He did a great job presenting his findings with his peers!
@peterhuynh.bsky.social presented his research at IUSO's Oxyopia on March 14. Titled: "Spatial-Temporal Topography of Ephs and Ephrins in the Lens" it covered the work he's done to narrow down potential binding partners for EphA2 or ephrin-A5 via qPCR. Excellent job presenting your challenging work!
At the end of May, the lab was able to gather and celebrate Dr. Cheng's & Arya's birthdays, Jackson's optometry school graduation, Jenna's vision science M.S. conferment, and Gryffin's graduation with a B.S. in optometry! Congratulations everyone! The lab would not be where it is without you all!
In addition to Gryffin and Jackson earning degrees, Jenna was awarded her Masters of Science in Vision Science, based on the hard work that she has put in with the lab! Her thesis work can be found here: www.aging-us.com/article/2061.... Congratulations Jenna!
Gryffin was admitted early to the Indiana University School of Optometry Program in place of finishing senior year of undergrad. Upon completion of his second year at IUSO, he received his Bachelor of Science in Optometry. Congratulations Gryffin!
Congratulations to Jackson! He graduated at the beginning of May with his Doctor of Optometry degree! We wish you all the best and thank you for the laughs the past few years!
Congratulations to Gryffin on receiving his white coat at the end of March! With his white coat, Gryffin has been spending much of his time over in the clinic applying the knowledge and skills he's gained in the past two years! Congratulations again Gryffin!
Throw back to when the lab was getting some field experience examining how animals use their lens at the Indianapolis Zoo!!
