Patricia A. D'Amore

In basic to translational studies spanning 3 decades, D'Amore has contributed to the understanding of the mechanisms controlling vascular development and pathobiology in the eye. She was the first to culture microvascular pericytes, and demonstrate, in co-cultures with endothelial cells, the critical roles of TGB-beta, VEGF and PDGF in capillary assembly and stabilization. With ophthalmology colleagues, she demonstrated that VEGF production was temporally and spatially associated with ischemic injury and neovascularization in the non-human primate retina, thus providing the mechanistic basis for the current use of anti-VEGF antibodies as effective vision-restorative therapies for diabetic and age-related macular degeneration, world-wide.