Chief Supervisor

Dr Thomas LAM

Project Title

Atropine mediated proteomic changes in myopia control: Insights from a mammalian guinea pig model

Synopsis

The molecular mechanism underlying atropine in controlling myopia is still elusive and controversial, limiting the clinical application of atropine to a large extent. Given the escalating social and economic burden associated with myopia, it urgently entails to studying the molecular mechanism of atropine in controlling myopia to develop more targeted therapies that could improve the efficacy and reduce short-term or long-term side effects. Next-generation proteomics technology now allows thousands of proteins and their post-translational modifications at tissue levels to be quantified more efficiently and accurately than ever before.

The project aims to apply sensitive and high throughput proteomics to unravel temporal events of atropine-related myopia control pathways and to further understand the mechanism of the popular atropine dosages in controlling myopic progression. Expressions of identified protein targets will be further confirmed by immunohistochemistry and a novel targeted multiple reaction monitoring (MRM) approach after bioinformatics analysis. Upon completion of this project, we will identify the most significant targets, their associated cascades, and sites of therapeutic action involved in the atropine-mediated myopia control from the retina to the sclera at temporal manner. Due to the known toxicity of atropine, our discovery may uncover off targets to give better insight for novel and key molecular targets for further development of effective agents in myopia control.