Researchers from the MSU College of Veterinary Medicine held a strong presence at the 2025 Annual Meeting of the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology, showing how animal-based research plays a crucial role in understanding eye diseases that affect both people and animals.

More than 10,000 attendees gathered in Salt Lake City, Utah to explore the latest in vision science. MSU’s Petersen-Jones Lab and Komáromy Lab shared six different pieces of research, including oral and poster presentations, to full rooms, touching on hot topics in the field.

Their work sheds light on complex conditions like glaucoma, retinal dystrophies, and Stargardt disease—disorders that cross species lines. By studying how these diseases appear and progress in animals, researchers are moving us closer to treatments for both human and veterinary patients.

Presentations touched on gene markers that help identify vision risks, cross-species comparisons of disease, medication delivery methods, and promising vision-restoring therapies. MSU College of Veterinary Medicine-linked presentations included:

• Dr. Simon Petersen-Jones, professor of ophthalmology, spoke on his lab’s work understanding gene augmentation therapy’s ability to rescue eye function in dogs: PDE6A gene augmentation therapy maintains rescue for up to 60 months in a dog model.
  
• Dr. Billie Beckwith-Cohen, associate researcher, presented on gene augmentation therapy as well: Gene augmentation therapy imparts partial visual recovery in a large animal model of GUCY2D Leber congenital amaurosis (LCA1).
• DVM/PhD dual-degree student Alexandra Azarkevich presented on research that examines retinal anatomy that echoes across human and animals: A canine model of Stargardt Disease 1 develops early cone dysfunction recapitulating the human phenotype.
• Dr. Andras Komáromy, professor of ophthalmology, presented a comparison of the efficacy and safety of different ways of delivering a certain treatment to alleviate glaucoma: Polymeric implants with sustained release of latanoprost or latanoprost free acid to lower intraocular pressure: the importance of anatomic location.
• Research associate Christine Harman of the Komáromy Lab presented on an investigation of genes and specific eye tissues in pre-glaucoma dogs: Genome-wide transcriptome analysis of the canine ADAMTS10-mutant trabecular meshwork.
• Research associate Phillip Buckman presented on the impact of a mutation in a gene on canine cornea health: Corneal endothelial health and central corneal thickness in beagle dogs with a G661R missense mutation in ADAMTS10, responsible for open-angle glaucoma