TONIA S. REX, Ph.D.

Assistant Professor

Department of Ophthalmology

The University of Tennessee College of Medicine

Address

The University of Tennessee Health Science Center

Hamilton Eye Institute

930 Madison Avenue, Suite 722

Memphis, TN 38163

Tel: (901) 448-2094; Fax: (901) 448-5028;

Education

Ph.D. Institution: Department of Molecular, Cellular and Developmental Biology, University of California Santa Barbara

Postdoctoral: University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA

Research Interests

The goal of this laboratory is to develop safe and effective gene therapies for retinal degenerations. We have developed an adeno-associated virus that delivers a non-erythropoietic form of erythropoietin. We have shown that it can protect neurons after a simple intramuscular injection. We are now testing this gene therapy in multiple animal models of neurodegenerative disease. We are also developing a method to quantify transgene product levels in the retina in vivo. Most inherited retinal degenerations are caused by mutations in photoreceptor specific transgenes. The photoreceptors are highly metabolically active and over or under expression of wild-type forms of photoreceptor transcripts can lead to cell death. Therefore, control of transgene dose will be critical to the development of successful gene therapies for retinal degenerative diseases due to mutations in photoreceptor-specific transcripts.

Links

Ophthalmology - Tonia Rex

Recent Publications

• Rex TS, Wong Y, Kodali K, Merry S. Neuroprotection of photoreceptors by direct delivery of erythropoietin to the retina of the retinal degeneration slow mouse. Exp Eye Res. 2009 Nov;89(5):735-40. Epub 2009 Jul 8. PMID: 19591826
• Allocca M, Doria M, Petrillo M, Colella P, Garcia-Hoyos M, Gibbs D, Kim SR, Maguire A, Rex TS, Di Vicino U, Cutillo L, Sparrow JR, Williams DS, Bennett J, Auricchio A. Serotype-dependent packaging of large genes in adeno-associated viral vectors results in effective gene delivery in mice. J Clin Invest. 2008 May;118(5):1955-64. PMID: 18414684
• Bennicelli J, Wright JF, Komaromy A, Jacobs JB, Hauck B, Zelenaia O, Mingozzi F, Hui D, Chung D, Rex TS, Wei Z, Qu G, Zhou S, Zeiss C, Arruda VR, Acland GM, Dell'Osso LF, High KA, Maguire AM, Bennett J. Reversal of blindness in animal models of leber congenital amaurosis using optimized AAV2-mediated gene transfer. Mol Ther. 2008 Mar;16(3):458-65. Epub 2008 Jan 22. PMID: 18209734
• Rex TS. Virus-mediated gene delivery to neuronal progenitors. Adv Exp Med Biol. 2008;613:147-53. Review. No abstract available. PMID: 18188939
• Rex TS. Rescue of sight by gene therapy - closer than it may appear. Ophthalmic Genet. 2007 Sep;28(3):127-33. Review. PMID: 17896310
• Shindler KS, Ventura E, Rex TS, Elliott P, Rostami A. SIRT1 activation confers neuroprotection in experimental optic neuritis. Invest Ophthalmol Vis Sci. 2007 Aug;48(8):3602-9. PMID: 17652729

view complete list of references (pubmed link)