Tim Lee

Program: Developmental, Regenerative and Stem Cell Biology

Current advisor: Rajendra S. Apte, MD, PhD

Undergraduate university: Vanderbilt University, 2015

Enrollment year: 2019

Research summary
Metabolic role of photoreceptor degeneration and survival mechanisms

Photoreceptors are essential for vision and uniquely sensitive to neurodegeneration, thus it is crucial to investigate and understand the underlying metabolism that make photoreceptors vulnerable.

Graduate publications
Sasaki Y, Kakita H, Kubota S, Sene A, Lee TJ, Ban N, Dong Z, Lin JB, Boye SL, DiAntonio A, Boye SE, Apte RS, Milbrandt J. 2020 SARM1 depletion rescues NMNAT1-dependent photoreceptor cell death and retinal degeneration. Elife, ():9:e62027.

Dong Z, Santeford A, Ban N, Lee TJ, Smith C, Ornitz DM, Apte RS. 2019 FGF2-induced STAT3 activation regulates pathologic neovascularization. Exp Eye Res, 187():107775.

Ban N, Lee TJ, Sene A, Choudhary M, Lekwuwa M, Dong Z, Santeford A, Lin JB, Malek G, Ory DS, Apte RS. 2018 Impaired monocyte cholesterol clearance initiates age-related retinal degeneration and vision loss. JCI Insight, 3(17):e120824.

Ban N, Lee TJ, Sene A, Dong Z, Santeford A, Lin JB, Ory DS, Apte RS. 2018 Disrupted cholesterol metabolism promotes age-related photoreceptor neurodegeneration. J Lipid Res, 59(8):1414-23.