Legacy Research Institute

PRIYA CHAUDHARY, PH.D.

Research Scientist
Devers Eye Institute, Discoveries in Sight Research Laboratories

Peer Reviewed Publications
Discoveries in Sight Laboratories  |  Devers Eye Institute

Short Bio:

Dr. Chaudhary has worked on multiple neuroscience projects at Devers Eye Institute, OR, New York Medical College, NY and Oregon Health & Science University (OHSU), OR. At Devers, she is funded as a principal investigator and co-investigator on multiple private and federal grants to understand the pathophysiology of aging and glaucoma. At OHSU she collaborated with various laboratories and clinicians as well as performed multidisciplinary research using in vivo and in vitro models.

Dr. Chaudhary’s long-term goal is to investigate immunomodulatory and phagocytic mechanisms in neurodegenerative diseases. Currently, she is leading work on understanding how the glial cells, inflammation and connective tissue lead to dysfunction at the optic nerve head in glaucoma. The ultimate overarching aim is to develop novel ONH-targeted therapies.

Publication Highlights:

Retrolaminar Demyelination of Structurally Intact Axons in Nonhuman Primate Experimental Glaucoma.
Chaudhary P, Lockwood H, Stowell C, Bushong E, Reynaud J, Yang H, Gardiner SK, Wiliams G, Williams I, Ellisman M, Marsh-Armstrong N, Burgoyne C.
Invest Ophthalmol Vis Sci. 2024 Feb 1;65(2):36.
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/38407858/

Optic Nerve Head Myelin-Related Protein, GFAP, and Iba1 Alterations in Non-Human Primates With Early to Moderate Experimental Glaucoma.
Chaudhary P, Stowell C, Reynaud J, Gardiner SK, Yang H, Williams G, Williams I, Marsh-Armstrong N, Burgoyne CF.
Invest Ophthalmol Vis Sci. 2022 63(11):9
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/30996143/

Myelin repair stimulated by CNS-selective thyroid hormone action.
Hartley MD, Banerji T, Tagge IJ, Kirkemo LL, Chaudhary P, Calkins E, Galipeau D, Shokat MD, DeBell MJ, Van Leuven S, Miller H, Marracci G, Pocius E, Banerji T, Ferrara SJ, Meinig JM, Emery B, Bourdette D, Scanlan TS. JCI Insight 2019. 4(8):e126329.
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/30996143/

Effects of lipoic acid on primary murine microglial cells.
Chaudhary P, Marracci G, Pocius E, Galipeau D, Morris B, Bourdette D. J Neuroimmunol. 2019. 334:576972.
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31176014/

Research Interests:

• Neuroinflammation
• Glaucoma
• Glial cell biology
• Drug discovery
• Multiple sclerosis

Research Focus:

Glaucoma causes progressive loss of vision by damaging the optic nerve head tissues in the back of the eye. Advanced age is an important risk factor for developing glaucoma regardless of the level of intraocular (eye) pressure at which it occurs. Our research group and others have shown that experimental glaucoma causes alterations to the optic nerve head connective tissues and blood vessels which contribute to how the ganglion cell axons of the retina are damaged in this disease. But no one knows how this happens and so, to date, there are no medicines that directly prevent or treat this damage.

Our overarching hypothesis is that the optic nerve tissues are a demanding environment for the axons and that these tissues become more vulnerable in the aged eye. We plan to identify molecular and cellular components of optic nerve head connective tissue, immune cells and retrolaminar myelin remodeling in monkey early experimental glaucoma. We will employ state of the art spatial transcriptomics, immunohistochemistry, electron microscopy, and precise anatomic colocalization of all microscopic findings to in vivo optical coherence tomography (OCT). The ultimate objective is to determine the mechanisms involved in glaucoma pathogenesis. Once confirmed, these findings will lead to new vision preserving glaucoma therapies directed to the optic nerve head tissues, complementing existing therapies that lower eye pressure.