As part of his visit to the US to understand the current status of research on Optic Nerve Regeneration, Dr. Rashmin Gandhi, consultant, Sankara Nethralaya visited research laboratories in Boston, San Francisco and Madison.
Dr. Gandhi met Dr. Benowitz and visited his lab in Boston where he observed the Optic nerve crush surgery in a mice model. Dr. Benowitz’s lab is working on molecular mechanisms responsible for degeneration and regeneration of axons in CNS. Dr. Gandhi discussed with Dr. Benowitz and his team the evolution, progress and future frontiers of research on Optic Nerve Regeneration. Dr. Benowitz is the Director, Laboratories for Neuroscience Research in Neurosurgery and an Associate Professor of Neuroscience at Harvard Medical School. He is acclaimed for his research on molecular mechanisms underlying axonal rewiring after injury in the mature CNS.
He also visited Neurology clinics with Dr. Ari Green at the University of California, San Francisco. Dr Green is a Neurologist specializing in Multiple Sclerosis. Dr. Gandhi went through Dr. Green’s series of cases of Multiple Sclerosis. Dr. Gandhi also got an opportunity to visit Dr. Iskander’s lab at Madison. Dr. Iskander’s research has shown enhanced neuronal re-growth after intraperitoneal injection of folic acid in mice. His lab also works on the epigenetic phenomenon.
During his stay in the US, Dr. Gandhi also attended a few lectures and seminars, including a guest lecture by eminent neurologist Dr. V. Ramachandran on “Phantom Limbs” and a seminar on neurosciences ‘Gerald D. Fischbach Symposium’ at the Harvard Medical School. Roderick MacKinnon, a Nobel laureate in Chemistry, was one of the faculty members at the seminar on neurosciences. Dr. Gandhi also attended the Neuro Ophthalmology speciality day at the American Academy of Ophthalmology in San Francisco followed by an annual meeting of neuroscience researchers at the University of Wisconsin and a lecture by Dr. GN Rao during the silver jubilee celebrations of the Combat Blindness Foundation at Madison.
Dr. Gandhi, along with Sankara Nethralaya Managing Director Dr. Vasan met Mr. Scott Taitel and Mr. Carlos Fernandez from the William J. Clinton Foundation, New York to discuss the latter’s initiatives in Peru and the possibility of Sankara Nethralaya offering its expertise in this regard. The Clinton Giustra Sustainable Growth Initiative recently launched a cataract project in Peru, under which 50,000 cataract surgeries will be performed on the country’s indigent population over the next four years.
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