Research Faculty

Shlomit Schaal, M.D., Ph.D.

Director, Diabetic
Retinopathy Service

Vitreo-Retinal Specialist

Assistant Professor
of Ophthalmology
Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences

CONTACT INFORMATION:

301 E. Muhammad Ali Boulevard, Louisville KY 40202
Telephone: 502-852-5466 Fax: 502-852-3811
E-mail: S.Schaal@louisville.edu

EDUCATION:

RESEARCH INTERESTS:

I am a physician-scientist with clinical training in vitreoretinal diseases and extensive scientific training in biochemistry and molecular biology. I have a dynamic young research lab concentrated on the molecular mechanisms leading to blinding diseases, such as age related macular degeneration and diabetic retinopathy. I developed a laboratory method for solubilizing the proteins of Bruch’s membrane. My novel method of solubilization of these proteins allowed us to identify some of the cellular pathways leading to age-related macular degeneration (AMD), and diabetic retinopathy in humans. My work led to the creation of a human Bruch’s membrane proteome, a database that is available to all other scientists in this field.

Recently, I have identified some of the molecular mechanisms leading to the development of diabetic retinopathy in humans, by applying a novel method of stratified proteomics. This pivotal work, which was the first to separate inner retinal from outer retinal molecular pathways in diabetes, has won me the ARVO/Alcon early career clinician-scientist research award.

PUBLICATIONS:

1. Schaal S, Beiran I, Rubinstein I, Miller B, Dovrat A.
   Lenticular Oxygen Toxicity. Invest Ophthalmol Vis Sci. 44(8):3476-3484, 2003. PMID: 12882797
2. Schaal S, Geng L, Tezel TH
   Optimization of Protein Extraction for Proteomic Analysis of Bruch’s Membrane
   The Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology (ARVO) Fort Lauderdale, Florida, 2006.
3. Schaal S, Beiran I, Bormusov E, Chevion M, Dovrat A.
   Zinc-desferrioxamine reduces damage to lenses exposed to hyperbaric oxygen and has an ameliorative effect on catalase and Na, K-ATPase activities. Exp Eye Res. 84(3):455-63, 2007. PMID: 17174302
4. Schaal S, Beiran I, Rozner H, Rubinstein I, Chevion M, Miller B, Dovrat A.
   Desferrioxamine and zinc-desferrioxamine reduce lens oxidative damage. Exp Eye Res. 84(3):561-8, 2007. PMID: 17239855
5. Schaal S, Cai J, Tezel TH Topographical and Age-Related Alterations in Human Bruch's Membrane Proteome
   The Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology (ARVO)
   Fort Lauderdale, Florida, 2007.
6. Schaal S, Cai J, Tezel TH Bruch's Membrane Proteome Reveals Specific Changes in Age-Related Macular Degeneration (AMD)
   The Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology (ARVO)
   Fort Lauderdale, Florida, 2008.
7. Schaal S, Cai J, Geng L, Kaplan HJ, Tezel TH
   Bruch's Membrane Proteome Alterations in Insulin-Dependent Diabetes Mellitus
   The Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology (ARVO)
   Fort Lauderdale, Florida, 2009.
8. Tezel TH, Geng L, Bodek E, Schaal S, Liu R, Dean DC, Klein JB, Kaplan HJ. Synthesis and secretion of hemoglobin by retinal pigment epithelium. Invest Ophthalmol Vis Sci. 50(4):1911-9, 2009. PMID: 19060278