Recent News

November 2025:

October 2025:

  • Looking forward to presenting our work on preventing basal laminar deposits at the 7th Biennial International Symposium on AMD in Cambridge, MA. Looks like an exciting two-day program! #AMD #VisionResearch #Ophthalmology
  • We are #hiring (Open Rank)! OVNS and the Department of Neuroscience at the University of Minnesota has an open joint search for our next Assistant, Associate, or Full Professor colleague. Emphasis on all aspects of the visual system, from the retina to higher visual areas, in both health and disease are encouraged to apply. Join us in beautiful Minnesota! Apply here. #ophthalmology #neuroscience 

September 2025:

  • Prague is beautiful (National Museum at night), surprising (who wouldn't love Kit Kats and vodka in vending machines), and wise beyond its years (indeed, don't mimic waterfalls). Excited to start the main program of #RD2025 today! #AMD #retina #ophthalmology
  • Looking forward to learning all the ins and outs of calcification at the ISSEC First International Joint Ectopic Calcification Meeting in #Nancy, #France. Always great to see familiar faces like Imre Lengyel and Hervé Kempf #HAP #mineralization 

August 2025:

  • Honored to have been selected to receive an Alcon Research Institute (ARI) Senior Researcher Grant to develop our next-generation retinal diagnostic platform. Looking to hire a #postdoc to work on this exciting project. Candidates with strong experience in retinal imaging, #NGS, and/or #CRISPR, please reach out! #hiring #ophthalmology #AMD
  • Happy to share the latest from our lab on new fibulin-3 (EFEMP1) mutations that cause disruptions to disulfide bonding and trigger ER stress. Many of these human mutations are likely associated with sub-clinical connective tissue disorders and provide additional insight into the nuances of fibulin-3 folding and secretion related to human disease. Congrats to Anna Roovers on her first co-author publication! Read here. #ECM #ProteinMisfolding 

July 2025:

  • In our recent ACS Chemical Biology publication, we developed new #HiBiT-tagging approaches for #AMD-associated proteins (e.g., high temperature-requirement A1 [HTRA1], performed high-throughput screening, and identified Chicago Sky Blue (CSB, an azo [R-N=N-R']-based molecule) as a significant enhancer of HTRA1 abundance. Azo compounds are commonly used as pigments, but can also have surprising biological functions (anti-bacterial, anti-amyloid, etc.). Molecules such as CSB may serve as tool compounds or leads in developing new therapies to combat the decline in HTRA1 levels observed in individuals harboring select AMD risk SNPs. Read here. #PromegaCorporation #Ophthalmology #VisionResearch ACS Publications
  • Congratulations to OVNS colleague Harald Junge and his team on their #ScienceSignaling paper unlocking a new role for #p53 regulation in #retinal vascular biology. #NEIfunded #UMNproud

May 2025:

April 2025:

March 2025:

Feb 2025:

  • Our thoughts go out to those affected directly or indirectly by recent layoffs. At the University of Minnesota, we too are not immune to recent turmoil and uncertainty surrounding federal funding. However, we are fortunate to have an approved open position for a new tenure track basic scientist faculty member (open rank) focusing on hashtag#glaucoma, hashtag#neuroprotection, and/or hashtag#neuroregeneration fields. A research focus in the broad area of retinal biology and disease is also of interest. See link at the end for more information and to apply (registration required), please contact us via LinkedIn or email if you have any questions. Finally, please forward this opportunity on to people who may be interested. Apply here.
  • Congrats to Steffi Daniel and Antonio Ortega on their recent publication on RPE basal lamina biology, basal laminar deposits (BLamDs), and their relevance to retinal diseases like age-related macular degeneration (hashtag#AMD). Check it out here.

Dec 2024:

  • Cool to see our work highlighted in the @promega Connections blog. Thanks to Jordan Villanueva for the write up! Check it out here.
  • Congrats to Nathan Johnson, Ph.D. for securing a VitreoRetinal Surgery Foundation (VRSF) Fellowship to extend his time in the lab!
  • Looking forward to presenting @UciCtvr this Friday! Hope you can attend, see announcement here.

Nov 2024:

Oct 2024:

  •  Don’t hit snooze after your parrilla-induced siesta today! Be sure to stop by our #ISER2024 session on small molecule therapies for retinal diseases - Quebracho B 5th Floor starting at 3:30PM. @iserworld
  • What a difference a day makes - clearly fall in MN, lovely spring (almost summer) weather in Buenos Aires. #ISER2024 has started off with a strong program today. @iserworld

Sept 2024:

Aug 2024:

  • #ISER2024 is 2 mo away! Mark your calendars - Yuanyuan Chen @UPMC and I are hosting a session on small molecule therapies for retinal degeneration. Talks by @StefPhDaniel, Liyun Zhang @HopkinsMedicine, Tim Corson, @UofTPharmacy, Marco Bassetto @UciCtvr, and yours truly. @iserworld
  • Very excited to share our recent work just published in @JCI_Insight. Low level #GSK3 inhibition via CHIR99021 remodels the #ECM and prevents BLamDs in an early-onset #AMD mouse model. Congrats to Sophie DiCesare on a great paper! Read here @UMNews
  • After dedicating 2+ yrs to the Lab, quantifying ~35,000 microns of Bruch’s memb./basal laminar deposits in TEM images, Antonio Ortega is now a Vivien Thomas PhD Scholar @HopkinsMedicine. Thankful for the opportunity to teach and learn from Ant and excited for his next chapter!

 

July 2024:

  • In our latest work, we show that fibulin-3 cysteine mutations present in the human population can severely compromise secretion, affect #MMP2 activity, and trigger #ERstress with implications for human #ECM diseases. Read here @biorxivpreprint @ClinGenResource
  • Happy to announce that we have received a two-year Regenerative Medicine Minnesota grant to develop next-gen tools to better study proteins implicated in age-related macular degeneration (#AMD). @UMNews @UMNmedschool #RegenMedMN
  • Congrats to @StefPhDaniel for receiving a travel grant to attend the #ISER2024 meeting in Argentina. Also, welcome to medical student Nathan Johnson, who secured a summer research fellowship from the University of Minnesota-Duluth. #visionresearch #ophthalmology @iserworld
  • Over the past month the Hulleman Lab has grown substantially. It's great to welcome Emily Baker, Anna Roovers, Pravallika Kambhampati, and Harkamal Kaur to the team! #visionscience #ophthalmology
  • An amazing resource @UMNresearch is the access to human donor eyes. Since ~2500 eyes are processed annually by @LionsGiftSight, we took a cool Lab Field Trip to learn about the process and watch a human globe dissection by the talented Sung Lee. #AMD #RPE

June 2024:

  • Contributed to a recently published paper on the role of the intermediate filament vimentin in corneal fibroblast transformation by the Petroll Lab. Check out the paper here. Congrats to first author Miguel and the rest of the team!
  • Enjoying the cool weather in Belfast prior to the @ISSECsociety Ectopic Calcification meeting hosted by @hervekempf and @Drusen_Lengyel. Looking forward to learning more about mineralization in diseases like #AMD and #PXE
  • Finally moving into the #scRNAseq world! Special thanks to @umngenomics for awarding us a UMN Genomics Center Pilot Grant. #RPE #AMD

May 2024:

Jan 2024:

  • Best of luck to current (and former) lab members Antonio Ortega and Kaylee Lankford on their grad school interviews this week @DukeGradSchool, @UTSWGradSchool, @JohnsHopkins! Proud of their accomplishments and excited for their bright futures.

Dec 2023:

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