Bala Ambati

Research Professor, Knight Campus

Balamurali K. Ambati, MD, PhD, is an ophthalmologist at Pacific Clear Vision Institute, and a Research Professor at the Knight Campus. He is a clinician-scientist, conducting research in drug delivery, ocular angiogenesis, and has co-founded iVeena, a startup focused on developing an eyedrop for corneal strengthening and an implant for drop-free cataract surgery. Dr. Ambati completed his residency at Harvard University and fellowship at Duke University. He has been in practice for 17 years as a cataract, cornea, and refractive surgeon. He was Director of Cornea at Medical College of Georgia for five years and most recently was professor and director of cornea research at the University of Utah. He has performed thousands of cataract surgeries, LASIK, and other vision correction procedures. His expertise includes cataract surgery, advanced lens implants, laser cataract surgery, all-laser LASIK, cornea transplants, Intacs, ICLs, iris repair, and other cornea procedures. Having graduated at the age of 17 from Mount Sinai School of Medicine as the world’s youngest doctor, he was cited in 2015 as the No. 1 eye surgeon in a top 40 under 40 global competition and made the Top 100 Power List of Ophthalmology by The Ophthalmologist magazine.

Dr. Ambati has been recognized for his teaching excellence with a University of Utah Resident Research Mentor Award and the Gold Humanism Award. He served as an instructor at the Harvard Cataract Course. His commitment to community and overseas service is strong. He has conducted free eye screenings in New York, Georgia, and Utah. He also served as a volunteer eye surgeon with ORBIS’ Flying Eye Hospital, SightLife, Sight for the Sightless, and Help Mercy International in Ghana, Zambia, India, Panama, Indonesia, the Philippines, and Malaysia.

Bonnie Archer

Lab Manager

Bonnie Archer joined the Ambati research laboratory in December of 2009and joined the Knight Campus in Aug 2020 with Dr. Ambati. She has over 30 years of experience working in small biotech companies and academic research. Her experience includes agricultural genetic testing & services, pharmaceutical research & development and academic research. Working for several small companies she has worn many hats– she has worked on the bench, in administration, facility management, washing dishes and taking, and on a management team. For the Ambati Lab, Bonnie is the lab manager, assisting senior researchers with assays, experiments, photo analysis, etc. while helping the lab to run efficiently. Bonnie enjoys reading, gardening, walking, traveling, volunteering and spending time with her husband, children and grandchildren.

Sangeetha Ravi Kumar

Research Associate

Sangeetha Ravi Kumar joined the Knight Campus at the University of Oregon in August 2020. She has been a part of Dr. Ambati’s research team as a Post-Doctoral Researcher and Research Assistant Professor. Prior to joining UO, she has worked at Hokkaido University (Japan), Louisiana State University, University of Utah, and Loma Linda University. Sangeetha holds a doctorate in Biochemistry from the Central Food Technological Research Institute at the University of Mysore, India. Her research interests include understanding the mechanisms of corneal and retinal diseases and the development and improvement of therapies. Her future research goals include the use of novel bio-functional molecules in cure and prophylaxis of eye diseases. In her leisure time, Sangeetha enjoys traveling, hiking, swimming, and socializing with her family and friends.

Hiro Uehara

Senior Research Associate

Hironori (Hiro) Uehara is an expert in basic molecular biology with deep ophthalmological knowledge and experience in various animal models and practices. He has more than 15 years of experience in molecular biology and 12 years in experimental ophthalmology. In 2007, he earned his Ph.D. in life science at the Tokyo Institute of Technology in Japan. Hiro developed a new method to analyze mRNA expression in single living cells using atomic force microscopy. This cutting edge method enabled the analysis of mRNA localization and time-course changes at the same time. Since moving to the United States, Hiro has focused on basic science applications in ocular diseases in Dr. Ambati’s lab, first as a postdoctoral fellow at the Medical College of Georgia, and then as a research assistant professor at the University of Utah and Loma Linda University. He has developed methods of control of alternative splicing of mRNA by DNA analogs which successfully inhibit angiogenesis and/or lymphangiogenesis in the corneal transplantation mouse model and age-related macular degeneration mouse models. He also developed an adeno-associated virus (AAV) encoding various recombinant proteins. Among them, AAV-COMPang1 and COMPang1 as a modified angiopoietin1, which rescued diabetic retinopathy by normalizing blood endothelium in a type I diabetic mouse model. Recently, he has developed a CRISPR/Cas9 based therapy for Fuchs’ endothelial corneal dystrophy (FECD) which successfully rescues corneal endothelium in early-onset FECD mouse models.

Xiaohui Zhang

Senior Research Associate

Xiaohui Zhang joined the Knight Campus in August 2020 as a senior research associate. Prior to that, she was an assistant research professor at Loma Linda University. Xiaohui holds a doctorate in Ophthalmology from Zhongshan Ophthalmic Center at Sun Yat-sen University in China. She received her MD in clinical medicine from Xi’an Jiaotong University Health Science Center in Xi’an, China.

Xiaohui has been a part of Dr. Ambati’s lab for 10 years. Her research focuses on the mechanism and treatment of retinal neovascular diseases involving gene-therapy and animal models, rodent ocular microinjection, and microsurgery skills. She utilizes two different delivery systems, AAV2 and RGD nanoparticle, for delivering anti-VEGF plasmid to inhibit angiogenesis. She also studies neuron degeneration diseases using animal models. Her research goal is to translate innovative research findings into clinical treatments.