Affiliation: Ophthalmology, Boston Children’s Hospital / Harvard Medical School. Boston, MA, United States

Dr. Zhongjie Fu is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Ophthalmology, Boston Children’s Hospital / Harvard Medical School. Her research interest focuses on the nutrient deficiency and metabolic modulations in retinal disorders, including retinopathy of prematurity, diabetic retinopathy, age-related macular degeneration and retinitis pigmentosa. Their work addresses the contribution of glucose/lipid metabolic disturbance to neuronal changes and the inhibition of normal vessel growth as well as promotion of neovascularization in hyperglycemia-associated retinopathy with vessel growth cessation and hypoxia-induced proliferative retinopathy. They have found that abnormal glucose metabolism caused photoreceptor dysfunction, retinal oxidative stress, inflammation, as well as glial responses, resulting in damaged retinal neurons and disturbed retinal vasculature. Targeting retinal glucose/lipid metabolism may be important in the treatment of retinal metabolic disorders.