NEI Travel Fellowships
By Liza Shevchuk
Three Vision Science doctoral candidates — Beatrice Le (third year), Laura Patak (fourth year), and Sonali Singh (fifth year) — were selected for National Eye Institute (NEI) R13 Travel Fellowships to attend the International Symposium on Retinal Degeneration (RD2025) in Prague, Czech Republic. Out of 198 applications reviewed by a panel of nine expert reviewers, the award recognized highly qualified trainees presenting work on retinal and macular degeneration.
Beatrice Le presented a poster expanding on her recent publication, “Evaluation of novel ChRmine- and ChroME-based channelrhodopsin variants for optogenetic restoration of visual function.” Laura Patak delivered a talk on “Long-term survival and structural integration of stem cell-derived photoreceptors in the non-human primate.” Sonali Singh presented her research, “Discovering a novel AAV capsid for efficient RPE transduction with intravitreal injection for treatment of the LCA2 disease model.”
Congratulations to Beatrice, Laura, and Sonali on this prestigious recognition!