Current Research Description

In general terms, my lab studies neural development, regeneration, and survival.  In particular, we are focused on the development, regeneration and survival of cells in the neurosensory tissue of the eye, the retina.  We are studying retinal regeneration by stimulating the major support cells of the retina, the Müller glia, to become progenitor cells.  The use of stem or progenitor cells for neuron replacement support holds the potential to treat degenerative diseases of the central nervous system.  My work has demonstrated that mature Müller glia in the retina are capable of becoming neuron-producing retinal precursor cells in response to acute damage or growth factors.

Ongoing projects include the following: (1) understanding the mechanisms that control the proliferation and differentiation of retinal stem cells, (2) mechanisms that regulate the maturation of the support cells (Müller glia) of the retina, (3) mechanisms that regulate the ability of Müller glia to de-differentiate, proliferate, and become neuronal stem cells, and (4) identification of mechanisms to enhance neural differentiation of cells produced by Müller glia-derived progenitors.  My lab uses a combination of pharmacological techniques, cell type-specific inducible genetic manipulations , chick and mouse model systems, and loads of single cell omics approaches to understand changes in gene expression at single cell resolution.

Mentoring Philosophy

Every student is different and requires different levels of mentoring. Science is the most rewarding when you get to explore and conduct experiments that develop from your own ideas.  If a student comes to me with a really good idea or cool technique related to the research interests in the lab, then my job becomes finding a way to make those experiments happen.

Google Scholar link for Dr. Fischer

NCBI link to Dr. Fischer's publications