April 2025
Jake wins 3rd place for his presentation
Jake was chosen as an oral presentation for the 66th Annual National Student Research Forum at the UT Medical Branch in Galveston, TX. He presented his research from the lab and was awarded 3rd place for his presentation. Way to go!
March 2025
Tiffany Receives an ARVO Travel Award
Tiffany received an ARVO travel award to attend and present her research at the upcoming Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology (ARVO) meeting in Salt Lake City, UT.
March 2025
Welcome to the Wert Lab, Rama
Dr. Rama Mortada joins the Wert lab as a Research Technician II. We're excited to have her join the team!
February 2025
Dr. Wert is a Semi-Finalist at TAMEST
Dr. Wert was an invited protege of Dr. Kim Orth for the Texas Academy of Medicine, Engineering, Science and Technology (TAMEST) Annual Meeting. She was a semi-finalist for the poster challenge at the meeting.
January 2025
Jake presents his research at the Medical Student Research Forum
Jake presented his ongoing research in the lab at the 63rd Annual Medical Student Research Forum at UT Southwestern.
January 2025
Wert lab publishes collaborative research on vision loss and dementia in Nature Communications
The Wert lab collaborated with Drs. Sekhar and Kramer to publish their study titled, "Sensory quiescence induces a cell-non-autonomous integrated stress response curbed by condensate formation of the ATF4 and XRP1 effectors" in Nature Communications.
Article HereNovember 2024
Dr. Wert is an invited speaker at Baylor College of Medicine
Dr. Wert presented her research, “cellular pathways driving photoreceptor degeneration in inherited retinal dystrophies,” for the Baylor College of Medicine Clinical and Translational Research Certificate of Added Qualification (CTR-CAQ) graduate program Bench-to-Bedside seminar. The conversations with both the students and the faculty in this program were excellent, and Dr. Wert loved hearing about their support of graduate students and the excellent research ongoing at BCM.
November 2024
Dr. Wert receives a UT Southwestern Department of Ophthalmology Pilot Research Grant
Dr. Wert is thrilled to receive a UT Southwestern Department of Ophthalmology Pilot Research Grant award to continue her work investigating the effects of sex hormone signaling and aging in the mammalian retina.
October 2024
Ashley Wins Best Poster Award
Congratulations to Ashley for winning Best Poster Award at the annual GDD graduate program retreat!
July 2024
Ashley receives an F31 fellowship from the National Eye Institute
The notice of award arrives for Ashley's F31 fellowship application with the National Eye Institute, with Dr. Helmut Kramer as co-Sponsor. Congratulations, Ashley!
June 2024
Dr. Wert is an invited speaker at the FASEB Retinal Neurobiology and Visual Processing Meeting
Dr. Wert gave a talk on her work, “Metabolic and steroidal hormone activity in retinal degenerative disease” at the FASEB Retinal Neurobiology and Visual Processing Meeting. She also enjoyed the amazing scientific presentations throughout the meeting!
June 2024
Dr. Wert and Ashley present at the Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory
Dr. Wert and Ashley both presented research at the Protein Homeostasis in Health and Disease Meeting at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory. Great meeting and colleagues working in proteostasis!
May 2024
Samita presents her research at two symposium events
Samita presented the findings of her fellowship research at the UTSW Green Fellows Symposium and the University of Texas at Dallas Summer Platform for Undergraduate Research (SPUR). We will miss her in the lab but excited to hear about her future career journey!
May 2024
Ashley, Emily and Tiffany share their new data at ARVO
Ashley gave an excellent oral presentation on her work: “Progressive vision loss related to sexual dimorphism in retinitis pigmentosa". Emily presented her research: “Human PRDM13 gene regulation in the adult murine retina" and Tiffany presented her work: “Temporal regulation of PRDM13 during retinal cell development" during the ARVO annual meeting in Seattle, WA.
April 2024
Ashley, Emily and Tiffany present for the Women in Science and Medicine Celebration
Ashley, Emily and Tiffany represented the lab and presented their exciting work at the WISMAC Women in Science and Medicine Celebration event
April 2024
Congratulations, Sofia for acceptance into Yale
Sofia received great news for her college applications and has officially accepted a position at Yale after she graduates here in Dallas. Congratulations!
March 2024
Congratulations, Bret, on the Fulbright Scholarship
Bret spent summer 2023 in the Wert lab where he advanced his skills in genetics and gene therapy. He was just awarded a prestigious Fulbright Research Grant to spend 2025 in New Zealand using gene correction for rare, genetic disorders. We can't wait to hear about the impact this opportunity has on his scientific career!
March 2024
Welcome back, Sofia Reyes
Sofia is back in the Wert lab as a Research Intern during her Spring 2024 semester of high school. We are thrilled to have her back in the lab and look forward to hearing about her upcoming college decisions!
March 2024
Emily presents her research for the Genetics, Development and Disease graduate program
Emily did an excellent job presenting her latest thesis research findings to the GDD graduate program!
March 2024
Welcome to the Wert Lab, Jake Aumeier
Jake is a first-year medical student at UT Southwestern and has joined the Wert lab to learn more about research on retinal degenerative disease. We are excited to have him as part of the team!
March 2024
Dr. Wert presents her research to the Koch Lab at LMU
Dr. Wert met with the Koch lab at Ludwig Maximillian University of Munich and presented her recent laboratory data and findings, while hearing about the exciting work and career paths of the members of the Koch lab.
March 2024
Dr. Wert presents her research for the 9th Annual German Pharm Tox Summit
Dr. Wert was an invited speaker for the Advances in Gene Therapy session at the 9th Annual German Pharm Tox Summit that took place in Munich, Germany.
March 2024
Emily, Tiffany and Ashley present their research for the WISMAC Celebration of Women in Science and Medicine Symposium
All three Wert lab students presented updates on their research during the WISMAC Celebration of Women in Science and Medicine Symposium at UT Southwestern.
March 2024
Congratulations, Emily, for the ARVO Science Communication Training Fellowship
Emily was one of only a few trainees chosen to be an ARVO Science Communication Fellow in 2024. She is excited to take this opportunity to build her skills in advocating for science.
Meet the Sci Comm Fellows WebsiteFebruary 2024
The Wert Lab is Presenting at ARVO 2024
Emily, Tiffany and Ashley all had their abstracts accepted for posters or oral presentations for the upcoming Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology conference in Seattle, WA, in 2024. We are excited to share all of our new data and findings!
February 2024
Congratulations, Ashley, on receiving an ARVO Travel Award
Ashley received a prestigious travel award from the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology (ARVO), to attend the meeting in May 2024 and present her research in an oral presentation.
January 2024
Tiffany appointed as a Trainee Advisory Committee Member for MoDTS
Tiffany was chosen as one of the Trainee Advisory Committee members for the Mechanisms of Disease and Translational Science (MoDTS) training grants here at UT Southwestern.
January 2024
Welcome to the Wert Lab, Samita Virani
Samita Virani joined the Wert lab as a Green Fellow for the Spring 2024 semester, to expand her research interest in women's health and sexual dimorphism in disease.
January 2024
Welcome back, Blessing Johnny
Blessing is back in the Wert lab to wrap up her scholarly research activity. We are thrilled to work with her again!
December 2023
Dr. Wert presents her research to the University of Michigan Kellogg Eye Institute
Dr. Wert was an invited Vision Seminar speaker for the University of Michigan Kellogg Eye Institute. She enjoyed sharing her science progress and hearing about all of the impactful research going on at Kellogg.
December 2023
Ashley presents her first GDD Works-In-Progress lecture
Ashley did an excellent job presenting her thesis research to the GDD graduate program!
November 2023
Congratulations, Ashley, on her recent publication
Ashley published her methods on "Murine orchiectomy and ovariectomy to reduce sex hormone production" in the Journal of Visualized Experiments
October 2023
Dr. Wert was an invited speaker for the CORT Lecture Series
Dr. Wert presented her work, "Mechanisms and therapeutics for inherited retinal dystrophies" as an invited speaker for the Center for Organogenesis, Regeneration and Trauma (CORT) Lecture series.
October 2023
Dr. Wert publishes a manuscript in collaboration with the Kramer lab
Dr. Shashank Sekhar from the Kramer lab collaborated with Dr. Wert and recently published their work in bioRxiv, entitled, "Visual impairment cell non-autonomously dysregulates brain-wide proteostasis." We can't wait to keep investigating this finding!
October 2023
Emily presents her research for the Department of Ophthalmology
Emily presented for the Department of Ophthalmology works-in-progress seminar series and did an excellent job showcasing her new and exciting data on transcriptional activity in the mammalian retina.
October 2023
Dr. Wert shares her career journey with the PB2PHD program
Dr. Wert met with the current post-baccalaureate to Ph.D. (PB2PHD) students at UT Southwestern to share her career journey and advice as they navigate their own career paths. This "Conversations with a Scientist" event was a great time, and the PB2PHD is an excellent program here at UTSW.
October 2023
Emily, Tiffany and Ashley present their research at the GDD Graduate Program Annual Retreat
Emily, Tiffany and Ashley did a great job presenting their current research findings during the GDD graduate program annual retreat at Pegasus Park, Dallas, TX.
September 2023
Tiffany presents her stem cell research for the Department of Ophthalmology
Tiffany presented for the Department of Ophthalmology works-in-progress seminar series and did an excellent job showcasing her exciting data on human stem cell-derived retinal organoids.
September 2023
Congratulations, Tiffany, for a publication of a commentary article
Tiffany published a commentary article on "Human retina-in-a-dish: Unlocking the potential to study mechanisms of inherited retinal disease" in the journal Molecular Therapy Methods and Clinical Development.
September 2023
Ashley presents her new research for a UTSW Research Interest Group
Ashley presented for a new UTSW Research Interest Group that she co-founded with Drs. Wert and Hernandez and did an excellent job showcasing her new and exciting data.
September 2023
The Wert Lab Receives NIH R21 Funding
The Wert lab received an NEI R21 award with Dr. Amanda Casey for their collaborative research studying the effects of Fic-mediated AMPylation in the mammalian retina.
August 2023
Ashley presents her new research for the Department of Ophthalmology
Ashley presented for the Department of Ophthalmology works-in-progress seminar series and did an excellent job showcasing her new and exciting data.
August 2023
Dr. Wert Collaborates with the Jackson Laboratory
Dr. Wert spent a week at the Jackson laboratory to collect samples for a large aging study. She collaborated with Dr. Jason Vevea from St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, Dr. Ryo Sanabria-Higuchi from USC, Dr. Danielle Robertson from UTSW, and the Shock Center at the Jackson Laboratory.
August 2023
Bret presents at the SURF and Amgen Scholars Annual Research Symposium
Bret designed a poster for his summer research and did a great job presenting the work during the SURF and Amgen Scholars Annual Research Symposium
August 2023
Dr. Wert receives the UT Southwestern Department of Ophthalmology Pilot Grant Program Award
Dr. Wert is thrilled to receive the UT Southwestern Department of Ophthalmology Pilot Grant Program Award. This award is going toward the collection and analysis of new data, and we can't wait to get started!
July 2023
Sofia presents at the STARS Summer Research Program Poster Session
Sofia created a poster of her summer research project and did a great job presenting the work during the 2023 STARS Summer Research Program Poster Session
July 2023
Wert Lab Summer Students Present Their Research Projects
The summer students working in the Wert lab (Sofia Reyes, Neloy Shome, and Bret Hatzinger) did a great job presenting their research projects and results for the Wert and Robertson lab joint meeting. The summer students in the Robertson lab also did an excellent job, and it was fun hearing about the different ophthalmology research ongoing in our Department!
July 2023
Dr. Wert presents her research for the Retina Foundation of the Southwest
Dr. Wert was invited to present her laboratory research to the Macular Function laboratory at the Retina Foundation of the Southwest
June 2023
Dr. Wert presents her research at the Summer FASEB Conference
Dr. Wert presented her ongoing research for The Biology and Chemistry of Vision FASEB Conference, as well as Co-Chairing the DataBlitz and Poster Sessions during the meeting. What a great time connecting with experts in the vision field!
June 2023
Ashley presents her research for the Retina Foundation of the Southwest
Ashley spent the month of June working with Dr. David Birch and colleagues at the Retina Foundation of the Southwest, and gave an excellent presentation on her clinical and bench research to the group!
June 2023
Welcome to the Wert Lab, Neloy Shome
Neloy joined the Wert lab as a first year UTSW medical student for a summer research enrichment elective. He will be working with Tiffany learning stem cell biology and gene editing. We are excited to have him here this summer!
June 2023
Welcome to the Wert Lab, Bret Hatzinger
Bret joined the Wert lab as a summer SURF program student from Bucknell University. He will be working with Emily to test preclinical efficacy of therapeutics in mouse models of retinal degenerative disease. We are excited to have him here this summer!
June 2023
Welcome to the Wert Lab, Sofia Reyes
Sofia joined the Wert lab as a summer STARS program student. She will be working with Ashley on investigating mechanisms underlying retinal degenerative disease. We are excited to have her here this summer!
June 2023
Emily presents her research at Children's Research Hospital
Emily did a great job presenting her work for the Annual Dr. Iannacone Child Neurology Research Symposium at Children's Research Hospital in Dallas. Her work was titled, "Characterizing disease progression in CLN7 Batten disease patients and a preclinical murine model."
May 2023
Congratulations, Emily and Tiffany!
Emily and Tiffany both successfully passed their qualifying exams for the Genetics, Development and Disease PhD program. On to the Ph.D.!
May 2023
Vijaya presents her research for the Green Fellows Symposium
Vijaya did an excellent job presenting a poster on her research during the 2023 Green Fellows Symposium. Her work was titled, "Optimizing an acute stress model to study Fic-mediated AMPylation in the retina."
April 2023
Emily and Tiffany present their research at ARVO 2023
Emily presented her work titled, “Overexpression of PRDM13 leads to photoreceptor degeneration in a novel, inducible murine model”, and Tiffany presented her work titled, "The role and regulation of the unfolded protein response by Fic-mediated AMPylation in the RHO P23H mouse model of retinitis pigmentosa” during the ARVO Annual Meeting in New Orleans
April 2023
Dr. Wert presents her research at ARVO 2023
Dr. Wert presented her work titled, “Metabolic perturbations during the progression of retinal degenerative disease” for the Consequences of altered cellular metabolism and/or mitochondrial functionality during ocular health and disease minisymposium during the ARVO Annual Meeting in New Orleans
April 2023
Ashley presents her research for the Peter O'Donnell Brain Institute Research Day
Ashley did an excellent job presenting some exciting new research findings during the Peter O'Donnell Brain Institute Research Day event
April 2023
Vijaya presents her research for the Department of Ophthalmology Works-In-Progress Seminar Series
Vijaya did an excellent job presenting her semester of research as a Green Fellow for the Department of Ophthalmology Works-In-Progress Seminar Series
April 2023
Emily receives Honorable Mention for her NSF Graduate Research Fellowship Application
Congratulations to Emily for receiving Honorable Mention for her National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship Application
April 2023
Tiffany and Emily present their research for the WISMAC Celebration of Women in Science and Medicine Event
Both Tiffany and Emily did a great job sharing their ongoing research during the WISMAC Celebration of Women in Science and Medicine Event at UT Southwestern Medical Center
March 2023
Tiffany presents her research for the Genetics, Development and Disease graduate program
Tiffany did an excellent job presenting her thesis research project for the Genetics, Development and Disease Works-In-Progress seminar. We're super excited by all of the excellent feedback on her research!
February 2023
Tiffany and Emily present their research at the 2023 GDD Annual Retreat
Both Tiffany and Emily did an excellent job presenting posters of their current research projects for the 2023 Annual Genetics, Development, and Disease Graduate Program retreat at the Dallas Arboretum.
February 2023
Welcome to the Wert Lab, Peter Chan
Peter started in the Wert laboratory in February 2023, as a first-year medical student. He is excited to be a part of the Wert lab to further develop his research skills and study the best part of the eye - the retina, and we are excited to have him in our lab!
January 2023
Emily presents her research for the Genetics, Development and Disease graduate program
Emily did an excellent job presenting her thesis research project for the Genetics, Development and Disease Works-In-Progress seminar. We're super excited by all of the excellent feedback on her research!
January 2023
Welcome to the Wert Lab, Blessing Johnny
Blessing joined the Wert laboratory in January 2023 as a 2nd Year Medical Student at UT Southwestern. She is taking part in the Scholarly Activity program, where she will spend full time in January-March 2023 and January-February 2024 in the Wert lab to pursue ophthalmology research. She is excited to learn more about retinal degeneration and the various genes being studied, while also improving her basic research skills. We are thrilled to have her join the lab for her research project!
January 2023
Welcome to the Wert Lab, Vijaya Dutt
Vijaya started in the Wert laboratory in January 2023, as a Green Fellow. She will be spending the Spring semester working on research in our lab and we are excited to have her here!
January 2023
Dr. Wert publishes her research collaboration with Columbia University in EMBO Molecular Medicine
The Wert lab just published a manuscript with the Steve Tsang laboratory at Columbia University. This work establishes a significant role of iron deficiency in initiating deferoxamine-related RPE atrophy. Inhibiting HIF2α and rescuing mitochondrial function by alpha-ketoglutarate protects RPE cells and can potentially ameliorate patients' visual function.
Read the Manuscript HereJanuary 2023
Welcome to the Wert Lab, Navnit Mohan
Navnit started in the Wert laboratory in January 2023, as a first year medical student. He is excited to be a part of Wert lab to learn more about the mechanisms underlying ophthalmological diseases and contribute to the development of novel therapeutics. We're excited to have him join the lab!
January 2023
Welcome back to the Wert Lab, Ashley Rowe
Ashley is back as a rotation student in her first year of graduate school at UTSW. She was our previous Research Technician, and we are excited to have her check out the lab as a graduate student!
December 2022
Emily and Tiffany present their research for the Department of Ophthalmology
Both Emily and Tiffany did an excellent job presenting their ongoing thesis projects to the Ophthalmology Department Works-In-Progress seminar. We're super excited to continue exploring gene regulation and its role in neurodegenerative disease.
November 2022
Dr. Wert was the invited speaker for the Fall Neuroscience Seminar Series at Covenant College, Lookout Mountain, GA
Dr. Wert was the invited speaker for the Neuroscience Seminar Series in the Biology Department at Covenant College. She presented her work on “Therapeutic approaches for inherited retinal disease" and also hosted an evening Q&A about a career in academic research for interested undergraduates
November 2022
Ashley publishes her research in eBioMedicine
The Wert lab just published a manuscript in collaboration with the labs of Dr. Steve Gray and Dr. Saima Kayani: "Long-term progression of retinal degeneration in a preclinical model of CLN7 Batten disease as a baseline for testing clinical therapeutics". Congratulations to first author, Ashley, and Wert lab co-authors, Emily and Yacine!
Read the Manuscript HereOctober 2022
The Wert Lab Receives Additional Funding from the VanSickle Family Foundation
The Wert Laboratory received another year of funding from the VanSickle Family Foundation to pursue our research on gene activity underlying macular degenerative disease. We are looking forward to using this generous funding to find potential therapeutic targets to treat patients with macular degeneration.
October 2022
Dr. Wert presents her research in the Physiology Department Seminar Series
Dr. Wert presented her research on metabolism during retinal degenerative disease for the Department of Physiology's Seminar Series.
October 2022
Tiffany's first author review article is published
Tiffany Yee published her review article in the International Journal of Molecular Sciences called, "Base and prime editing in the retina - from preclinical research toward human clinical trials." Congratulations, Tiffany!
Read the Manuscript HereSeptember 2022
Dr. Wert presents her research in the Molecular Biology Seminar Series
Dr. Wert presented her research on genetic regulation in the mammalian retina for the Department of Molecular Biology's Seminar Series, hosted by Dr. Kim Orth.
September 2022
Welcome to the Wert Lab, Ahmed Alshaikhsalama
Ahmed started in the Wert laboratory in September 2022, as a second year medical student. He is excited to be a part of the Wert lab to further develop biochemical solutions for complex ophthalmological diseases. We're excited to have him join the lab!
September 2022
Tiffany receives the CRSM Fellowship Award
Tiffany was one of five recipients of the Hamon Center for Regenerative Science and Medicine (CRSM) Fellowship Awards for 2022-2023. This award will help support her as she pursues her research in the Wert lab. Congratulation, Tiffany!
September 2022
Dr. Wert joins as Associate Director on the Microscopy and Digital Imaging Module of the Core Grant for Vision Research
Dr. Wert joins as Associate Director on the Microscopy and Digital Imaging Module of the Core Grant for Vision Research. She will direct the rodent live imaging research for the Department of Ophthalmology P30 NEI grant.
August 2022
Ashley is accepted into the MoDTS and 3MD graduate program tracks
Ashley is accepted into two special interests tracks alongside her main Ph.D. program: the Mechanisms of Disease Translational Science (MoDTS) track and the Molecular Metabolism and Metabolic Diseases (3MD) track.
August 2022
Glen presents his summer research at the SURF program poster session
Glen did an excellent job presenting his summer research project during the SURF program poster session at UTSW.
June 2022
The Wert lab collaboration with the Robertson lab is published in PLoS One
Ashley and Yacine helped with data for a collaboration that led to a publication by the Robertson lab in PLoS One, called "Differential effects of obstructive sleep apnea on the corneal subbasal nerve plexus and retinal nerve fiber layer."
https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0266483
June 2022
Ashley presents her works-in-progress to the Department of Ophthalmology
Ashley did an excellent job presenting her recently submitted for publication data to the Ophthalmology Department Works-In-Progress seminar. We're super excited to continue exploring gene therapy cellular targets for neurodegenerative disease.
June 2022
Welcome to the Wert Lab, Glen Wickersham
Glen Wickersham is a summer undergraduate research fellowship (SURF) student who is joining the Wert Laboratory through August 2022 from the Universidad del Sagrado Corazon in Puerto Rico. We're excited to have him visiting this summer and for him to explore his research interests in aging and neurodegenerative diseases!
June 2022
Welcome to the Wert Lab, Tyler Cepica
Tyler Cepica is a medical student here at UTSW and joined the Wert Laboratory to help build his knowledge and interest in translational Ophthalmology research. We're excited to have you working with us!
May 2022
Dr. Wert invited to be the Keynote speaker at the Genetics, Development and Disease (GDD) graduate program annual retreat
Dr. Wert was selected to be the Keynote speaker at the 2022 Genetics, Development and Disease (GDD) graduate program annual retreat at the Dallas Arboretum. She hopes the students enjoyed her presentation as much as she enjoyed hearing all of the great ongoing research from the various graduate student speakers and poster presenters.
May 2022
Ashley Rowe presents her research at the ARVO 2022 annual meeting in Denver, CO
Ashley Rowe did an excellent job presenting her poster titled, "Ocular Characteristics and Disease Progression in a Preclinical Model of Batten Disease" during the Photoreceptors and Disease session on Tuesday, May 3, 2022 at ARVO. She had people stopping by to chat about her work throughout the entire poster session time!
May 2022
Dr. Wert presents her research and moderates a session at the ARVO 2022 annual meeting in Denver, CO
Dr. Wert presented her work on "Dysregulation of Tricarboxylic Acid (TCA) Cycle Activity and Lipid Metabolism in Preclinical Models of Retinitis Pigmentosa" during the Retinal Metabolism session on Sunday, May 1, 2022. It was a great session with really strong research presentations and feedback.
She also enjoyed her first time moderating a paper session with Dr. Karl Wahlin. The session was on "Stem Cell Models of Retinogenesis and Retinal Disease" on Monday, May 2, 2022.
April 2022
Tiffany Yee has the winning design for the new GDD graduate program logo
Congratulations to Tiffany Yee, she designed the winning logo for the Genetics, Development and Disease graduate program.
March 2022
Ashley is accepted into the Ph.D. program at UT Southwestern Medical Center
Super excited to announce that Ashley Rowe is accepted to the Ph.D. program at UT Southwestern Medical Center. She's going to have an amazing time exploring the research opportunities here at UT Southwestern, and we know she'll do great in her Ph.D. thesis research!
March 2022
Ashley Rowe invited to present her research at the ARVO 2022 annual meeting in Denver, CO
Ashley Rowe will be presenting a poster titled, "Ocular Characteristics and Disease Progression in a Preclinical Model of Batten Disease" during the Photoreceptors and Disease session on Tuesday, May 3, 2022.
March 2022
Dr. Wert invited to speak at the ARVO 2022 annual meeting in Denver, CO
Dr. Wert will be presenting a talk titled, "Dysregulation of Tricarboxylic Acid (TCA) Cycle Activity and Lipid Metabolism in Preclinical Models of Retinitis Pigmentosa" during the Retinal Metabolism session on Sunday, May 1, 2022.
She will also be presenting her work with the Celeris Electroretinography System for Diagnosys LLC on Tuesday, May 3, 2022, as well as moderating the paper session "Stem Cell Models of Retinogenesis and Retinal Disease" on Monday, May 2, 2022.
March 2022
Ashley Rowe invited to present her research at the ARVO 2022 annual meeting in Denver, CO
Ashley Rowe will be presenting a poster titled, "Ocular Characteristics and Disease Progression in a Preclinical Model of Batten Disease" during the Photoreceptors and Disease session on Tuesday, May 3, 2022.
February 2022
Welcome to the Wert Lab, Tiffany Yee
Tiffany Yee officially joins the Wert Lab as our second graduate student. We are excited to have her as a part of the lab and to get started on some exciting research projects for retinal degenerative disease!
January 2022
Welcome to the Wert Lab, Emily Nettesheim
Emily Nettesheim joined as the first official graduate student in the Wert Laboratory. We are excited to have her be a part of the lab, and to work together as she completes her doctoral degree.
December 2021
The Wert Lab Receives Funding from the VanSickle Family Foundation
The Wert Laboratory received funding from the VanSickle Family Foundation to pursue our research on gene activity underlying macular degenerative disease. We are looking forward to using this generous funding to find potential therapeutic targets to treat patients with macular degeneration.
November 2021
Welcome to the Wert Lab, Yacine Issioui
Yacine Issioui is a current medical student here at UTSW and is working with the Wert Laboratory to analyze data and gather experience in basic science Ophthalmology research. We are excited to help you explore your interests in the field of Ophthalmology!
October 2021
Welcome to the Wert Lab, Rotation Student Tiffany Yee
Tiffany Yee joined the Wert Laboratory as a rotation student for the second Fall 2021 rotation period. We are excited to have her here and to help her explore her interests in retina research!
October 2021
Dr. Wert presents her research for the National Eye Institute
Dr. Wert was an invited speaker for the Retina Disease Interest Group Seminars at the National Eye Institute, hosted by Dr. Anand Swaroop. She presented her work titled, "The role of metabolism on photoreceptor cell health during the progression of retinal degenerative disease." She had such a great experience interacting with all of the excellent retina researchers at the NEI!
August 2021
Welcome to the Wert Lab, Rotation Student Emily Nettesheim
Emily Nettesheim joined the Wert Laboratory as a rotation student for the first Fall 2021 rotation period. We are excited to have her here and to help her explore her interests in ocular gene therapy!
July 2021
Dr. Wert joins as an Investigator in the O'Donnell Brain Institute (OBI)
Dr. Wert has joined the Peter O'Donnell Brain Institute (OBI) as an Investigator. She is excited to be involved with the OBI and take part in their activities and scientific advances in brain (and eye) research!
July 2021
Congratulations to Ashley on the lab's first publication!
Congratulations, Ashley! She just published her first manuscript and the lab's first publication in JCI Insight.
Read the Full ManuscriptJuly 2021
Ashley presents her works-in-progress to the Department of Ophthalmology
Ashley did an excellent job presenting her recently published data and brand new preliminary data to the Ophthalmology Department Works-In-Progress seminar. We're super excited to keep finding the mechanisms by which manipulating neural retina metabolism can provide resilience against cell death to the photoreceptor cells during disease progression.
April 2021
Ashley presents her research for the RPE Cell Biology and Metabolism Seminar Series
Ashley Rowe did an amazing job presenting her research on metabolic dysregulation in the neural retina during retinal degenerative disease. She presented virtually for the RPE Cell Biology and Metabolism Seminar Series, with over 87 people in attendance during her talk! Way to go!
December 2020
Welcome to the Wert Lab, Dr. Pinkal Patel
Dr. Pinkal Patel joined the Wert Laboratory after completing his Ph.D. research in Biomedical Sciences with a concentration in Visual Sciences at the UNT Health Science Center. Pinkal is excited to start his research projects looking into neuronal/retinal development and how it is impacted during neurodegenerative disease. We are excited to have you in the lab, Dr. Patel!
November 2020
Dr. Wert presents her new research findings in the GDD WIPs seminar series
Dr. Wert presented her laboratory's recent research findings in photoreceptor metabolism during retinal degeneration to the Genetics, Development and Disease (GDD) Works-In-Progress seminar series. Thanks GDD for the invite to speak! And to Ashley for all of her hard work and dedication to obtaining this data.
October 2020
Ashley presents her works-in-progress to the Department of Ophthalmology
Ashley did an amazing job presenting her research on photoreceptor metabolism during the progression of Retinitis Pigmentosa as well as the creation of isogenic human pluripotent stem cells using prime editing and their differentiation to 3D retinal organoids (two talks in one!). Way to represent the Wert Laboratory on our first official presentation to the Department of Ophthalmology!
September 2020
Dr. Wert presents her lab research at the New Faculty Research Forum
Dr. Wert presented her research titled, "Disease Modeling and Therapeutics for Retinal Degenerative Disease" for the New Faculty Research Forum at UT Southwestern Medical Center.
August 2020
Welcome to the Wert Lab, Rotation Student Dami Alao
Dami Alao has joined the Wert Laboratory as a rotating graduate student from the Biomedical Engineering program. Dami was born and raised in Lagos, Nigeria and moved to the United States to attend college at Wichita State University, Wichita, Kansas. She completed her Bachelor of science in Biomedical Engineering in December 2017, during which she interned at a biotech company in Omaha, Nebraska called Streck and later transitioned into a full time position where she worked on developing real-time PCR diagnostic assays as a surveillance tool for antibiotic resistance and cell-free DNA blood collection tubes. While at Streck, her curiosity and desire for biomedical research was further ignited, hence the decision to attend graduate school where she can both ask and solve interesting biological questions. In her free time, Dami enjoys volunteering in community events, spending time in nature, reading and perfecting home-made recipes. We are excited to have her continue her research career in our lab!
August 2020
Dr. Wert presents her lab research for the GDD "Meet the Program" event
Dr. Wert was an invited presenter for the senior student-organized GDD "Meet the Program" event for incoming graduate students.
June 2020
Dr. Wert presents her research for the Retina iMetabolism Seminar Series
Dr. Wert was an invited speaker for the Retina iMetabolism Joint Lab Meeting Online Seminar Series. This series brought together research labs throughout the country that work on retinal metabolism, and was hosted by Columbia University and the University of Washington. She presented her work titled, "Metabolic Treatment for Retinitis Pigmentosa.”
February 2020
Commentary Published for Dr. Wert's Recent Manuscript
Dr. Wert's publication in EBioMedicine received a published commentary piece from the University of Washington, also published in EBioMedicine.
Read the Full PublicationFebruary 2020
Welcome to the Wert Lab, Ashley Rowe
Ashley Rowe has joined the Wert Laboratory as a Research Technician II. She is a recent graduate of UT Dallas with a B.S. degree in Biochemistry and is looking forward to combining her clinical knowledge with her love for medical science. We are excited to have her start her research career in the field of Ophthalmology!
November 2019
Dr. Wert joins the Hamon Center for Regenerative Science and Medicine faculty
Visit the Hamon Center Faculty PageNovember 2019
Dr. Wert receives the inside back cover image for the Dec. 2019 issue of Human Mutation
Dr. Wert received the Inside Back Cover Image for the December 2019 issue of Human Mutation, based on her work:
Wert KJ*, Koch SF, Velez G, Hsu CW, Mahajan M, Bassuk AG, Tsang SH, Mahajan VB*. CAPN5 inactivation phenotype supports therapeutic inhibition trials. Hum Mutat. 40(12):2377-2392. *Co-corresponding authors.
October 2019
The Wert Laboratory Officially Opens
September 2019
Dr. Wert invited to speak at the ARVO 2020 annual meeting in Baltimore, MD
Dr. Wert will be presenting a talk titled, "Base and Cas13a RNA editing" during the "Genome Surgery and Base Editing: From Biology to Therapy" Full-Day Education Course on Saturday, May 2, 2020.