Nageswara Rao Kollu
The University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, North Carolina, USA
I started my research career during my M.Tech at University of Hyderabad, India. Later in 2006, I moved to L.V Prasad Eye institute, Hyderabad, India for my PhD where I had the opportunity to work with different eye diseases caused by defective genes. After completion of the PhD, I moved to the University of Massachusetts Medical School, USA for my first postdoctoral fellowship to understand the molecular mechanisms caused by defective X- linked Retinitis Pigmentosa genes in different mouse models. Having studied the identification of defective genes and its mechanism, involvement, and the subsequent development of eye disease, I became interested in gene therapeutic strategies for eye disease and thus joined Dr. Matthew Hirsch’s lab at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill’s Gene Therapy Center. During my research career, I gained good experience in PCR, Automated DNA Sequencing, multiplex ELISA, Western blotting, Real time PCR, mass spectrometry analysis, protein-protein interactions, gene expression by RNA sequencing, and mouse eye phenotype analysis by histology, immunofluorescence and electron microscopy, viral vector construction, virus preparation, and therapeutic gene administration by using different routes of injections in mouse retina.
Finding genes for eye disease, Molecular understanding of retinal degeneration, Gene editing and therapeutic approaches by AAV mediated gene therapy.
