Han Peng
Northwestern University, IL·Biology
The cornea, the clear front window of the eye, must stay transparent and healthy for us to see. One way its cells cope with stress is autophagy, a process in which cells break down and recycle their own damaged parts.
- Fields
Biology
Medicine & Clinical Research
Pharmacology
- Topics
cornea
autophagy
mustard gas keratopathy
- Grants
- 2 known grants, through Apr 2029
What they work on
- Determine whether nitrogen mustard exposure frees Beclin1, a protein that starts autophagy, from its partner Bcl2 in corneal cells and mice, and whether changing this binding alters mustard-induced autophagy.
- Test whether blocking or boosting mustard-induced autophagy, using genetically modified mice with reduced Beclin1 or altered Beclin1–Bcl2 binding, lessens or worsens corneal injury.
- Test whether short-term drug inhibition of autophagy reduces nitrogen-mustard-induced corneal injury in mice.
- Test whether NDP52-mediated selective autophagy degrades TRAF2, a pro-inflammatory protein, to dampen inflammation in corneal epithelial cells and macrophages, using gain- and loss-of-function studies.
- Determine whether reducing p62-mediated selective autophagy promotes limbal epithelial differentiation by raising active Notch and lowering Wdfy1, using human limbal cell submerged and 3D raft cultures and mice.
More about the research
The lab studies when autophagy protects the cornea and when it harms it. One project looks at its harmful role after mustard gas injury. The other looks at selective autophagy, a targeted form that destroys specific signaling proteins, and how it controls inflammation and the maturation of corneal surface cells.
Why it matters
People with mustard gas keratopathy, a chemical injury that can cause corneal haze, abnormal blood vessel growth and blindness, currently have no specific treatment. Targeting Beclin1–Bcl2-regulated autophagy could offer a new therapeutic direction. More broadly, understanding selective autophagy could point to treatments for corneal diseases marked by excess inflammation and abnormal cell maturation, such as chemical burns.
Known grants
From NIH and NSF research grants. Labs often have other funding we can't see.
Closest labs
Gregory Borschel
Indiana University-Purdue University-Indianapolis, IN·Medicine & Clinical Research
Determine how much corneal Schwann cells, the support cells that accompany nerve fibers, control limbal stem cell activity, using an animal model of neurotrophic keratopathy, selective cell ablation and tracking of corneal cell populations.
Nagaraja Nagre
Old Dominion University, VA·Pharmacology
Test how effectively inhibiting MAGL, the enzyme that degrades the endocannabinoid 2-AG, protects mice from nitrogen mustard-induced acute lung injury, inflammation and oxidative stress, using the selective inhibitor JZL184 and MAGL-inactivated animals.
Dimitrios Karamichos
University of North Texas Health Science Center, TX·Medicine & Clinical Research
Test whether abnormal levels of the pituitary hormones FSH and LH, and of their upstream regulator GnRH, unbalance sex hormones and alter the cornea to drive keratoconus, using cell, donor-tissue and animal models.
The school
Northwestern University: 71 labs on PI Pages, $1.3B a year on research, 536 research doctorates a year.
Reach out
A start for your email. Fill in the brackets.