Ocular Drug Delivery

In an ongoing collaboration with Dr. Steve Little, Dr. Ian Conner, and Dr. Joel Schuman, our group has developed a novel, semi-permanent eye drop platform that can sustain the delivery of ocular drugs for days or weeks from a single, patient-administered dose. This non-invasive, patent-pending method is being validated for use in glaucoma and ocular infection, thanks to Regis Kowalski and the Charles T. Campbell Eye Microbiology Lab.

Ophthalmic Biomaterials

While our projects in drug delivery aim to prevent vision loss, an entirely different class of materials in development seeks to restore vision through biomimetic regeneration of key cells and tissues. The same techniques that can sustain long-term drug release can also aid in replicating the prolonged presentation of pro-regenerative cues, like those provided by stem cells, from a local depot engineered to be safe and degradable.

Collaborations

The world-class clinical faculty at the Department of Ophthalmology are heavily involved in the inception and success of new research projects. Ongoing collaborations with Dr. Ken Nischal and Dr. Jenny Yu seek to expand the utility of our materials for pediatric patients and ocular trauma. Funding from the Cystinosis Research Foundation and the University of Pittsburgh is helping make this work possible.

Publications

NCBI MyBibliography for Dr. Fedorchak