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Smith Lab

Lois Smith, MD, PhD

Ophthalmologist, Boston Children's Hospital; Professor of Ophthalmology, Harvard Medical School.

Research Focus
Retinopathy of prematurity.
Brief Research Description
Dr. Smith is a pediatric ophthalmologist (clinician scientist) interested in basic mechanisms of retinopathy and in translational research. The lab is interested in ways to prevent vessel loss or ways to revascularize hypoxic retina to prevent loss of neural retina in ROP, AMD and in diabetes. Their basic work on the role of VEGF in retinopathy, IGF-1 in ROP, and omega 3 fatty acids as a way to prevent retinopathy have been translated into clinical practice, clinical trials and an algorithm to predict which infants will develop ROP. New avenues of research include modulation of the erythropoietin and Wnt pathway, Sirt-1, Semaphorin 3A and SOCS3 to modulate vascular and neuronal growth and survival.
Key Publications (PMCIDs)

Retinal lipid and glucose metabolism dictates angiogenesis through the lipid sensor Ffar1.
Joyal JS, Sun Y, Gantner ML, Shao Z, Evans LP, Saba N, Fredrick T, Burnim S, Kim JS, Patel G, Juan AM, Hurst CG, Hatton CJ, Cui Z, Pierce KA, Bherer P, Aguilar E, Powner MB, Vevis K, Boisvert M, Fu Z, Levy E, Fruttiger M, Packard A, Rezende FA, Maranda B, Sapieha P, Chen J, Friedlander M, Clish CB, Smith LE.
Nat Med. 2016 Apr;22(4):439-45. doi: 10.1038/nm.4059. Epub 2016 Mar 14. Erratum in: Nat Med. 2016 Jun 7;22(6):692. PMID: 26974308; PMCID: PMC4823176

Quantification of oxygen-induced retinopathy in the mouse: a model of vessel loss, vessel regrowth and pathological angiogenesis.
Connor KM, Krah NM, Dennison RJ, Aderman CM, Chen J, Guerin KI, Sapieha P, Stahl A, Willett KL, Smith LE.
Nat Protoc. 2009;4(11):1565-73. doi: 10.1038/nprot.2009.187. Epub 2009 Oct 8. PMID: 19816419; PMCID: PMC3731997

Development of a Retinopathy of Prematurity Activity Scale and Clinical Outcome Measures for Use in Clinical Trials.
Smith LEH, Hellström A, Stahl A, Fielder A, Chambers W, Moseley J, Toth C, Wallace D, Darlow BA, Aranda JV, Hallberg B, Davis JM.
JAMA ophthalmology. 2019; 137(3):305-311. NIHMSID: NIHMS1004380 PMID:30543348 PMCID: PMC6565513

Thrombocytopenia is associated with severe retinopathy of prematurity.
Cakir B, Liegl R, Hellgren G, Lundgren P, Sun Y, Klevebro S, Löfqvist C, Mannheimer C, Cho S, Poblete A, Duran R, Hallberg B, Canas J, Lorenz V, Liu ZJ, Sola-Visner MC, Smith LE, Hellström A.
JCI insight. 2018; 3(19). PMID:30282834 PMCID:PMC6237470

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