Jesse Schallek, PhD

My scientific interests are to develop and deploy new functional imaging tools to image the cellular pathology and progression of vascular disease in the eye. Clinically, the onset of retinal vascular dysfunction is measured by examining retinal anatomy. Yet structural changes often follow more subtle functional changes, meaning clinical intervention is left to address pathology after advanced disease is already present. This is clearly problematic and undermines the potential for timely treatment and the opportunity to address the early stage of disease. My career as a scientist begins at an exciting time when we can improve upon these limitations by optically imaging retinal function in a non-invasive way. The focus of my lab investigates microvascular blood flow in the retina and its regulation in health and disease. At the core of this research, I develop upon adaptive optics scanning light ophthalmoscopy (AOSLO) to study microscopic changes in the smallest capillaries of the living eye. In this way, we can study the natural history of early and progressive stages of vascular-associated brain diseases in a non-invasive approach. Our ongoing research examines the impact of high blood sugar on the structure and function of the retinal vessels in a mouse model of human diabetes.