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New eyes on the prize
In London, Ont. a novel research team is bringing a variety of perspectives from different disciplines to eye research
(published in Forever Young)
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| Tim Newson, Cindy Hutnik and Kathleen Hill (Ellen Ashton-Haiste photo) |
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By Ellen Ashton-Haiste
As eye diseases, like macular degeneration and glaucoma, impact a growing number of aging baby boomers, researchers around the world are looking for answers — what causes these diseases, how can they be treated or prevented?
Now, an innovative research team in London, Ont. is taking a new approach and looking at those old questions in a brand new way.
The team brings together three very different disciplines — medical research, biology and engineering — in an approach to the research that the members believe to be a first in Canada.
“We’re all interested in the same questions but what we each bring to the table is a much different perspective and I think that’s what takes this into the innovative realm,” says Dr. Cindy Hutnik, an ophthalmologist, medical researcher and associate professor at the University of Western Ontario, who has hooked up with biologist Kathleen Hill and engineering professor Tim Newson.
Bringing in the engineering aspect is particularly exciting, Hutnik says, explaining the rationale: “Maybe glaucoma, for example, isn’t a nerve disease. Maybe it’s a support structure disease. That’s where some of the engineering questions might come in because engineers deal with support and stress and strain.”
In fact, says Newson, who started his career as a civil engineer but got drawn into research a decade ago as the result of chat with an ophthalmologist during a rugby game in his native Scotland, the eye behaves as a structure.
“It’s a pressure vessel, a pressurized sphere.” The cornea, he says, is like the dome of a building. And, the mathematical principles used in engineering apply equally to the structure of the eye.
In her lab, Hutnik studies the cells of the eye but notes that at the base of all cells are the genes, the DNA, which is Hill’s particular area of interest.
“So as a team, we’re able to look at the whole eyeball, right from the little molecules that make it up, into the building blocks, the cells, that compose it, right up to the entire structure.… How do these building blocks come together and is it, maybe, how they’re not coming together that’s the problem. I think that’s what makes this innovative.”
Hutnik says her dual role as a clinical practitioner and a researcher was the impetus of the team approach. “I have the opportunity to go to doctor meetings as well as scientist meetings and that allowed me to look at both sides of the coin and say ‘hey, why don’t we draw all this together?’” But she also believes there was an element of serendipity involved, since Hill and Newson were thinking along the same lines. “We kind of came together all at once and realized that we had this synergy we could bring to the table.”
The research is already well underway and “the information is starting to role off the press,” says Hutnik, who will be presenting some of the first results at national and international meetings this spring.
One of the areas the team has focused on is drug delivery, using some cutting-edge equipment such as a novel synthetic eye model and a mini-CT scanner, one of only four in the world.
“We’re looking at where is the best place to put the drug, how does it flow from point A to point B. With the (CT scanner) you can study the flow of the drug once you’ve injected it. It’s the idea of you tell me where the disease is and I’ll tell you how to get the drug there.”
This is an exciting project, she says, because it can apply to all eye diseases.
In another experiment, mice have been genetically programmed to develop diseases similar to AMD and glaucoma and drugs are being tested to see if the degeneration can be prevented.
Hutnik hopes to establish this Experimental Eye Research Facility as a centre of excellence which will eventually pull in researchers from still other disciplines to add their expertise. She has already had interest expressed by members of other disciplines as well as industry in getting involved.
The facility is also a training centre for students interested in vision research and has one masters of science student and a couple of undergraduates already working on the projects.
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New eyes on the prize
In London, Ont. a novel research team is bringing a variety of perspectives to eye research
— and reaping success
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By Ellen Ashton-Haiste
As eye diseases, like macular degeneration and glaucoma, impact a growing number of baby boomers, researchers around the world are looking for answers — what causes these diseases, how can they be treated or prevented?
An innovative research team in London, Ont. has been looking at those old questions in a brand new way — a multi-disciplinary approach. Experts from various areas of medicine, and even from non-medical disciplines, are bringing their diverse perspectives to the table to see if they can come up with new answers, an approach believed to be a first in Canada.
And, they’re succeeding, says team leader and founder Dr. Cindy Hutnik, an ophthalmologist, medical researcher and associate professor at the University of Western Ontario.
The team started with three very different disciplines — medical research, biology and engineering — personified by Hutnik, biologist Kathleen Hill and engineering professor Tim Newson.
Hutnik says her dual role as a clinical practitioner and a researcher was the impetus of the team approach. “I have the opportunity to go to doctor meetings as well as scientist meetings and that allowed me to look at both sides of the coin and say ‘hey, why don’t we draw all this together?’” But she also believes there was an element of serendipity involved, since Hill and Newson were thinking along the same lines. “We kind of came together all at once and realized that we had this synergy we could bring to the table.”
Bringing in the engineering aspect was particularly exciting, Hutnik says, explaining the rationale: “Maybe glaucoma, for example, isn’t a nerve disease. Maybe it’s a support structure disease. That’s where some of the engineering questions might come in because engineers deal with support and stress and strain.”
In fact, says Newson, who started his career as a civil engineer but got drawn into research a decade ago as the result of chat with an ophthalmologist during a rugby game in his native Scotland, the eye behaves as a structure.
“It’s a pressure vessel, a pressurized sphere.” The cornea, he says, is like the dome of a building. And, the mathematical principles used in engineering apply equally to the structure of the eye.
In her lab, Hutnik studies the cells of the eye but notes that at the base of all cells are the genes, the DNA, which is Hill’s particular area of interest.
“So as a team, we’re able to look at the whole eyeball, right from the little molecules that make it up, into the building blocks, the cells, that compose it, right up to the entire structure.… How do these building blocks come together and is it, maybe, how they’re not coming together that’s the problem. I think that’s what makes this innovative.”
Today, says Hutnik, experts are coming forward from other areas of medicine, asking to be involved. “We’ve increased our range of collaborators which is very exciting.”
Earlier this year, a major grant from the Plunkett Foundation, a London charitable organization, allowed the team to move ahead with new equipment — such as a novel synthetic eye model and a mini-CT scanner, one of only four in the world — as well as a base of operations at the Lawson Health Research Institute. With the help of other experts and some enthusiastic students, researchers at the fledgling Experimental Eye Research Facility have made progress and have already found a couple of those answers.
In one area, the research has identified one of the factors that leads to the “wet” — and most devastating — form of macular degeneration, taking the patient quickly from sight to blindness.
“The ‘bad guy’ here is a molecule called VEGF (vascular endolethial growth factor),” says Hutnik, explaining that this molecule promotes growth of the blood vessels, which eventually causes them to rupture and the resulting clot leads to blindness. “In our lab, we have shown what are some of the factors that cause the bad guy to be released … and what we are now injecting into the patients’ eyes basically sops up this molecule.”
Another area of investigation has been glaucoma treatments. Patients have often found the eye drops necessary to treat the condition irritating. Hutnik’s team was able to place the blame on toxic preservatives in the drops. Thanks to collaborator Dr. Gordon Laurie, a Canadian physician currently practicing at the University of Virginia, they have isolated a new peptide molecule called Lacratin that protects the eye against these preservatives. There has already been interest from industry in incorporating the protective peptide into the eye drops.
“This is exciting but that’s what a facility like this can do,” Hutnik says. “It partners with the university; it partners with industry; it sets up these partnerships which allow things to move forward.”
She’s also excited about research being done with a mouse (“we call it the ‘Harlequin’ mouse because it looks like a little Harlequin cat”), that’s genetically programmed to undergo retinal degeneration, much like the process of macular degeneration and glaucoma. Using equipment purchased with the Plunkett grant, researchers are able to monitor the mouse’s retina to see if different drugs might reverse the degeneration.
One of the noteworthy aspects of this research, Hutnik says, is a project looking at genetic predisposition, conducted by a fourth year pathology student who is heading for medical school.
Students, in fact, are a big part of the research team. “We’ve got students at all levels,” she says. “We have science students who aren’t in medical school yet; we have medical students; we have residents in training; and we have students who are pursuing masters and PhDs, all them involved in different projects.”
For most, she says, the work is a stepping stone to their career goals — be it medical school, a higher degree, or a job in the pharmaceutical industry — and often done voluntarily. However she endeavours to get some funding for those who work under her. Nevertheless, the big benefit for them is the opportunity to head up a project and present the findings, nationally or internationally, and be published.
“I have a rule that if the student writes the first draft of the manuscript, they are the first name on it. And most students love that because their name is up in spotlights. They get their time in the sun.”
For the researchers, it’s new ideas and enthusiasm. “Some of the most successful research has been done by students who are very early in their training,” Hutnik says. She cites the example of Evan Martow, a young man almost fresh out of high school, who expressed interest in the eye and in medical school and has gone on to do some great research on the laser used to treat glaucoma.
“He has just finished a brilliant piece of research, where what you need is the interest. You need the student who’s willing to do some work and is interested. If they’ve got the interest they can really take the product to fruition. (Evan’s) project has turned out to be just fantastic.”
How students can get involved
For students looking to get involved in medical research and interested in vision and London’s innovative multi-disciplinary approach, Dr. Cindy Hutnik is the go-to girl.
They can find her on the London Ivey Eye Institute website (www.iveyeye.ca) under “Research.”
“I have a file of ‘interested students’,” Hutnik says. “And I have another file of ‘potential projects.’ The students usually send their resume of CV and I see what area they’re interested in – clinical, with patients, basic science, epidemiology or whatever — and I match them up with a project that needs to be done.”
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