Lab Members
Assistant Professor in Ophthalmology
Dr. Liu was a trained Ophthalmologist and received her PhD on Molecular Ophthalmology from Peking Union Medical College in Beijing, China. Dr. Liu did her postdoctoral training at the F.M. Kirby Center for Molecular Ophthalmology at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania.
Dr. Liu’s previous research was focused on improving the understanding of the genetic causes and the molecular bases of inherited retinal degenerations (IRDs) using a combination of genetically modified animal models and molecular biologic approaches. Her work on photoreceptor sensory cilium and retinitis pigmentosa 1 laid the groundwork for many studies to follow. Her research program is dedicated to gain a better understanding of molecular mechanisms underlying IRDs and related ciliopathies, and to overcome hurdles of conventional AAV-mediated gene augmentation therapy for treating dominant IRDs and recessive IRDs that are caused by mutations in large genes. Her recent studies on the development of CRISPR/Cas9-based genome editing strategies provide a start point for facilitating translation of therapeutic gene editing programs into IRD therapies in human.
qin_liu@meei.harvard.edu
Research Technologist
Rossano Butcher graduated from the CAS Honors Program at Suffolk University in 2015, with a Bachelors degree in Biology and a minor in Chemistry. He worked alongside Dr. Lauren Nolf-Clemets, providing evidence of the Island Rule and microevolution in white-footed mice (Peromyscusleucopus) in the harbor islands off of Boston; and was also involved in Dr. Melanie Berkmen’s novel research on fumarase deficiency, utilizing site-directed mutagenesis to make gene mutations. Most recently, Rossano has been involved in abroad volunteer programs as a medical and laboratory assistant, in places such as Vietnam and Peru.
Rossano joined the Ocular Genomics Institute in April of 2017 as research technologist for Dr. Qin Liu.
Contact Information:
Rossano_Butcher@meei.harvard.edu
Research Fellow
Dr. Caitlin Collin earned her Ph.D in developmental biology at the Danish Stem Cell Institute (University of Copenhagen, Denmark), studying how Notch signaling regulates pancreatic development. Caitlin joined the OGI as a postdoctoral researcher in 2017, and now focuses on developing gene therapies for RP1-associated Retinitis Pigmentosa. This disease is not amenable to traditional gene augmentation therapy, due to the large size of the RP1 gene, its dominant inheritance, and its requirement for tight regulation of expression levels. Thus, Dr Collin is exploring multiple therapeutic approaches in collaboration with industry, including novel viral and non-viral delivery methods, CRISPR-Cas based gene editing, and oligonucleotide-based gene editing. This work will also lay the foundation for applications in other IRDs caused by mutations in large genes.
In 2020, Dr Collin was the grateful recipient of the Career Starter Grant from the Knights Templar Eye Foundation, for the development of Base Editing and Prime Editing approaches for ABCA4 associated Stargardt disease.
Caitlin_Collin@MEEI.HARVARD.EDU