Rebecca Weiner
University of Tennessee
Rebecca Sappington lab
My thesis work explores outcomes of neuroinflammatory signaling in both healthy and diseased visual systems. Proinflammatory chemokine, CCL5, is constitutively expressed in retina and has shown to elicit neuroprotective responses in neurodegenerative disorders such as Alzheimer's Disease, Multiple Sclerosis, and HIV-dementia. Currently, I am exploring the role of CCL5 and its high-affinity receptors in a murine model as it pertains to retinal ganglion cell degeneration and Glaucoma-a leading cause of blindness.