enVISION Fall 2011 - UC Davis Health System

Thomas B. Barnes,
O.D., M.S., F.A.A.O.
UC Berkeley School of Optometry
Senior Optometrist
Marie E. Burns, Ph.D.
Professor, Retinal Physiology,
Director, Center for
Visual Sciences.
Research Interests: Physiology.
Trained as a biochemist and electrophysiologist, Dr. Burns studies
the temporal regulation of signal transduction mechanisms
in neurons. She received her Ph.D. from Duke University and
did fellowships at Stanford University. Much of her work has
investigated the deactivation of the G protein cascade in
photoreceptor cells of the retina. Her future studies will seek to
understand the mechanisms by which different G protein cascades
yield signals of varying amplitude and durations, such as in the
rod and cone photoreceptors in the retina.
| 12 | Vision Scientists
Melissa Barnett Erickson,
O.D., F.A.A.O.
UC Berkeley School of Optometry
Principal Optometrist
Brooke S. Chang,
O.D.
UC Berkeley School of Optometry
Senior Optometrist
Paul FitzGerald, Ph.D.
Professor, Biochemistry, Molecular,
Cellular & Developmental Biology.
Research Interests: The role of
intermediate filaments in the
biology of the ocular lens.
http://www.ucdmc.ucdavis.edu/
cellbio/faculty/fitzgerald
Dr. FitzGerald is studying the unusual biological requirement of
optical clarity in the lens of the eye. How that is achieved is not fully
understood, but a very high degree of structural order and uniformity
is considered essential. Dr. FitzGerald’s laboratory has identified
two proteins that are very divergent members of the intermediate
filament family of proteins that assemble into a unique cytoskeletal
element called the beaded filament. Both of these proteins and
the beaded filament are expressed only in the lens. Dr. FitzGerald
received his Ph.D. in Cell Biology and Anatomy from UCLA.