Professor Keith Martin

University position

Professor

Professor Keith Martin is pleased to consider applications from prospective PhD students.

Departments

Department of Clinical Neurosciences

Institutes

Cambridge Centre for Brain Repair

Email

krgm2@cam.ac.uk

Home page

http://www.brc.cam.ac.uk/pages/K... (personal home page)

Research Themes

Cellular and Molecular Neuroscience

Clinical and Veterinary Neuroscience

The Cambridge Neuroscience Community

Interests

The main goal of our group is to understand better the mechanisms of retinal ganglion cell (RGC) death in glaucoma, the leading cause of irreversible blindness worldwide. We aim to develop methods to protect RGC thus slowing the progression of glaucomatous visual loss, and ultimately to restore vision in those blind due to the disease.

We have developed a novel model of glaucoma that has proven to be very useful in the investigation of glaucoma pathogenesis. The model allows RGC death to be studied both during the period of increased eye pressure and after pressure has fallen back to normal levels.

We are currently exploring the pathogenesis of axonal injury in glaucoma and investigating stem cell transplantation and neurotrophic factor gene therapy as potential treatment approaches. We also have a keen interest in the role of axonal transport dysfunction in glaucoma.

Retinal transplantation of human adult retina-derived stem cells
Click image to view full-size

Research Focus

Keywords

glaucoma

stem cells

gene therapy

optic nerve

axonopathy

Clinical conditions

Eye disease

Glaucoma

No direct clinical relevance

Equipment

Confocal microscopy

Electrophysiological recording techniques

Fluorescence microscopy

Immunohistochemistry

Microscopy

Collaborators

Key publications

Bull ND, Irvine KA, Franklin RJ, Martin KR (2009), “Transplanted oligodendrocyte precursor cells reduce neurodegeneration in a model of glaucoma.” Invest Ophthalmol Vis Sci 50(9):4244-53 Details

Beirowski B, Babetto E, Coleman MP, Martin KR (2008), “The WldS gene delays axonal but not somatic degeneration in a rat glaucoma model.” Eur J Neurosci 28(6):1166-79 Details

Johnson TV, Martin KR (2008), “Development and characterization of an adult retinal explant organotypic tissue culture system as an in vitro intraocular stem cell transplantation model.” Invest Ophthalmol Vis Sci 49(8):3503-12 Details

Publications

2010

Afshari FT, Kwok JC, Andrews MR, Blits B, Martin KR, Faissner A, Ffrench-Constant C, Fawcett JW (2010), “Integrin activation or alpha 9 expression allows retinal pigmented epithelial cell adhesion on Bruch's membrane in wet age-related macular degeneration.” Brain 133(Pt 2):448-64 Details

Hyatt AJ, Wang D, Kwok JC, Fawcett JW, Martin KR (2010), “Controlled release of chondroitinase ABC from fibrin gel reduces the level of inhibitory glycosaminoglycan chains in lesioned spinal cord.” J Control Release 147(1):24-9 Details

Johnson TV, Bull ND, Hunt DP, Marina N, Tomarev SI, Martin KR (2010), “Neuroprotective effects of intravitreal mesenchymal stem cell transplantation in experimental glaucoma.” Invest Ophthalmol Vis Sci 51(4):2051-9 Details

Johnson TV, Bull ND, Martin KR (2010), “Neurotrophic factor delivery as a protective treatment for glaucoma.” Exp Eye Res Details

Johnson TV, Bull ND, Martin KR (2010), “Identification of barriers to retinal engraftment of transplanted stem cells.” Invest Ophthalmol Vis Sci 51(2):960-70 Details

Marina N, Bull ND, Martin KR (2010), “A semiautomated targeted sampling method to assess optic nerve axonal loss in a rat model of glaucoma.” Nat Protoc 5(10):1642-51 Details

2009

Bull ND, Martin KR (2009), “Using stem cells to mend the retina in ocular disease.” Regen Med 4(6):855-64 Details

Gasparini L, Anthony Crowther R, Martin KR, Berg N, Coleman M, Goedert M, Spillantini MG (2009), “Tau inclusions in retinal ganglion cells of human P301S tau transgenic mice: Effects on axonal viability.” Neurobiol Aging Details

Johnson TV, Bull ND, Martin KR (2009), “Transplantation prospects for the inner retina.” Eye (Lond) 23(10):1980-4 Details

2008

Agrawal P, Martin KR (2008), “Ciliary body position variability in glaucoma patients assessed by scleral transillumination.” Eye (Lond) 22(12):1499-503 Details

Bull ND, Johnson TV, Martin KR (2008), “Stem cells for neuroprotection in glaucoma.” Prog Brain Res 173:511-9 Details

Bull ND, Limb GA, Martin KR (2008), “Human Müller stem cell (MIO-M1) transplantation in a rat model of glaucoma: survival, differentiation, and integration.” Invest Ophthalmol Vis Sci 49(8):3449-56 Details

2007

Bull ND, Martin KR (2007), “Optic nerve restoration: new perspectives.” J Glaucoma 16(5):506-11 Details

2006

Martin KR, Quigley HA, Valenta D, Kielczewski J, Pease ME (2006), “Optic nerve dynein motor protein distribution changes with intraocular pressure elevation in a rat model of glaucoma.” Exp Eye Res 83(2):255-62 Details

Martin KR, Quigley HA, Valenta DF, Kielczewski J, Pease ME (2006), “Optic nerve dynein motor protein distribution changes with intraocular pressure elevation in a rat model of glaucoma” Exp Eye Res 83(2):255-62

2005

Levkovitch-Verbin H, Quigley HA, Martin KR, Harizman N, Valenta DF, Pease ME, Melamed S (2005), “The transcription factor c-jun is activated in retinal ganglion cells in experimental rat glaucoma.” Exp Eye Res 80(5):663-70 Details

2004

Martin KR, Quigley HA (2004), “Gene therapy for optic nerve disease.” Eye 18(11):1049-55 Details

2003

Levkovitch-Verbin H, Quigley HA, Martin KR, Zack DJ, Pease ME, Valenta DF (2003), “A model to study differences between primary and secondary degeneration of retinal ganglion cells in rats by partial optic nerve transection.” Invest Ophthalmol Vis Sci 44(8):3388-93 Details

Martin KR, Quigley HA, Zack DJ, Levkovitch-Verbin H, Kielczewski J, Valenta D, Baumrind L, Pease ME, Klein RL, Hauswirth WW (2003), “Gene therapy with brain-derived neurotrophic factor as a protection: retinal ganglion cells in a rat glaucoma model” Invest Ophthalmol Vis Sci 44(10):4357-65

2002

Levkovitch-Verbin H, Martin KR, Quigley HA, Baumrind LA, Pease ME, Valenta D (2002), “Measurement of amino acid levels in the vitreous humor of rats after chronic intraocular pressure elevation or optic nerve transection.” J Glaucoma 11(5):396-405 Details

Levkovitch-Verbin H, Quigley HA, Martin KR, Valenta D, Baumrind LA, Pease ME (2002), “Translimbal laser photocoagulation to the trabecular meshwork as a model of glaucoma in rats.” Invest Ophthalmol Vis Sci 43(2):402-10 Details

Martin KR, Klein RL, Quigley HA (2002), “Gene delivery to the eye using adeno-associated viral vectors.” Methods 28(2):267-75 Details

Martin KR, Levkovitch-Verbin H, Valenta D, Baumrind L, Pease ME, Quigley HA (2002), “Retinal glutamate transporter changes in experimental glaucoma and after optic nerve transection in the rat.” Invest Ophthalmol Vis Sci 43(7):2236-43 Details

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