Dr. Mary Ann Stepp, a researcher at George Washington University (GW), has received a $2.8 million grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to continue her 27 years of research on corneal wound healing.
Stepp reportedly first begin her corneal wound healing research on proteins called integrins, and she was part of a research team that was the first to show how epithelial cells use used hemidesmosomes to attach to the dermis in the skin and stroma in the cornea. Her research later evolved to also study corneal nerves and their role in corneal healing.
Stepp's latest research will reportedly look at two hypotheses — first that corneal epithelial basal cells adhere to, protect, organize, and maintain the subbasal nerves, and second that to resolve corneal pathology after trauma or disease, adhesion between corneal epithelial cells, subbasal nerves, and the basement membrane must be restored to levels present prior to development of pathology.
Click here to read the full press release.
Source: George Washington University