Ibec Seminar. Dr. Maribel Vazquez
Thursday, June 26 @ 12:30 pm–1:30 pm
Microfluidic Modeling of Aging Retina
Dr. Maribel Vazquez,, Professor of Biomedical Engineering Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey. https://vazlab.org
The dramatic rise of chronic and age-related eye diseases is expected to increase the number of adults with vision loss by 50% in the next decade. Health Disparities with age, sex, and geography will further exacerbate impacts of vision loss worldwide. The retinal neurovascular unit plays critical roles in preserving vision from dysfunction caused by common diseases of diabetic retinopathy, age-related macular degeneration, and glaucoma. Our group has developed micro-physiological systems to examine cellular and molecular dysfunction across blood retinal barriers produced by food-derived, advanced glycation end-products (AGEs) in circulating blood. Current projects measure changes in the permeability and resistivity of diabetic retinal barriers, evaluate the use of electric fields to replace photoreceptors in the macula, and examine newfound roles of glia in mediating retinal integrity within age-related and chronic, pathological environments. Results highlight the role of microfluidics-based systems in identifying mechanisms of neurovascular response and evaluating effectiveness of pharmacology at different stages of disease. The laboratory also highlights the blending of Health Disparities in the development of biomedical therapies and training of biomedical engineers.
Dr. Vazquez is a Professor of Biomedical Engineering at Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey. She began her career in industry at Intel Corporation and then completed a Doctor of Science in Mechanical Engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). She is an inducted Fellow of the American Institute of Medical and Biological Engineers (AIMBE) and Biomedical Engineering Society (BMES) for the contributions of microfluidic systems in the visual system. She received the 2023 AIMBE Professional Impact Award for the inclusion of Health Disparities within under/graduate training and was honored as the 2024 Plenary Speaker to the BMES Council of Chairs for integration of health disparities in Biomedical Engineering. She is an invited speaker in the special session of Retinal Engineering at the 2025 Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine International Society (TERMIS).
