Dr. Sonali Nashine works in Dr. Cristina Kenney’s laboratory at the Gavin Herbert Eye Institute at UC Irvine. Sonali’s research is focused on the causes of dry AMD, with an emphasis on identification of potential therapeutic targets that may prolong the longevity of retinal cells. Her research goal is to screen and identify peptides and drugs that will rescue damaged AMD mitochondria and thereby improve the health and function of retinal cells in AMD patients. Sonali’s poster ‘Humanin G (HNG) reduces mitochondrial (mt) DNA-mediated apoptosis and autophagy in age-related macular degeneration (AMD) ARPE-19 cybrids: implications for therapeutics’ won third place award at the recent ‘Bench to Bedside’ Symposium at UC Irvine.
Sonali received her Ph.D. from the University of North Texas. She currently holds the Arnold and Mabel Beckman postdoctoral fellowship and will be presenting her research findings at ARVO (The Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology) 2016 annual meeting in Seattle, for which she recently received a postdoctoral travel award.