# Harvard-Vision Clinical Scientist Development Program

> **NIH NIH K12** · MASSACHUSETTS EYE AND EAR INFIRMARY · 2021 · $124,841

## Abstract

Program Summary
This is an administrative supplement application to the parent grant Harvard-Vision Clinical Scientist
Development Program (NEI 5K12EY016335) with the overarching goal to study the pathogenesis of mustard
gas keratopathy and develop effective medical countermeasure against it. The Parent K12 Program is a career
development grant offering a customized and structured learning, research, and development environment to a
select and diverse group of highly-qualified, clinically-trained scholars and providing them with further
mentored research experience to become independent clinical scientists in their respective fields. Since the
start of the program in 2004, the overwhelming majority of the scholars have successfully completed the
program and received independent federal research funding. The program currently has 3 physician scientist
scholars including Jia Yin, MD, PhD, MPH. In her K12 program, Dr. Yin investigates the direct regulation of
corneal angiogenesis and the development of neovascularization by corneal nerves, specifically the differential
expression of nerve-derived peptides in homeostatic and inflammatory microenvironments and their impact on
angiogenesis. Dr. Yin’s K12 award mentors are Dr. Reza Dana (PI of the K12 grant), an expert on ocular
immunology, and Dr. Patricia D’Amore, an expert on ocular angiogenesis, at Harvard Medical School. In her
K12 pursuit, Dr. Yin found that in response to severe dry eye disease, trigeminal ganglion neurons that supply
corneal innervation change their secretory pattern of neuropeptides, leading to a more pro-inflammatory and
pro-angiogenic profile. It has been noted that sulfur mustard exposure leads to loss and aberrant regeneration
of corneal nerves. But the secretion of neuropeptides by corneal nerves after mustard exposure has not been
characterized. In addition, Dr. Yin discovered that alkali chemical injury leads to ocular tissue hypoxia and
reversal of hypoxia by a topical oxygenated emulsion effectively ameliorates hypoxia, inflammation, and
corneal neovascularization in the eye. Although oxygen therapy has been shown to be effective in reducing
ocular complications after thermal and chemical injury and is commonly used in lung damage related to
mustard gas exposure, the role of hypoxia and the therapeutic potential of oxygen therapy in mustard gas
keratopathy (MGK) have not been studied. Both dry eye disease and alkali burn share many molecular, cellular
and clinical similarities with MGK: persistent ocular surface inflammation, infiltration of immune cells, nerve
degeneration, loss of the immune and angiogenic privileges of the cornea, and in severe cases limbal stem cell
deficiency. The proposed supplement aims to expand the scope of the parent grant to better understand how
corneal nerves and angiogenesis interplay in the development of MGK and to explore the role of tissue hypoxia
in MGK. Importantly, the supplement will permit us to evaluate the translational potenti...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10227532
- **Project number:** 3K12EY016335-15S1
- **Recipient organization:** MASSACHUSETTS EYE AND EAR INFIRMARY
- **Principal Investigator:** Reza Dana
- **Activity code:** K12 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2021
- **Award amount:** $124,841
- **Award type:** 3
- **Project period:** 2004-09-30 → 2021-03-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10227532

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10227532, Harvard-Vision Clinical Scientist Development Program (3K12EY016335-15S1). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-26 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10227532. Licensed CC0.

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