Matilda Chan

Principal Investigator
 
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B.A. – University of California, Berkeley
M.D./Ph.D. – Keck School of Medicine of USC – Lab of Dr. Peter Jones
Internship – University of California, San Diego
Residency – University of Rochester/Flaum Eye Institute
Fellowship – Proctor Foundation/University of California, San Francisco, Cornea and External Disease
Postdoctoral fellowship – University of California, San Francisco – Lab of Dr. Zena Werb

 
Matilda Chan received her M.D./Ph.D. degrees from the Keck School of Medicine at USC. She performed her doctoral work at USC in the laboratory of Dr. Peter Jones, where she studied the functional roles of DNA methyltransferases. Following her clinical training in ophthalmology and clinical fellowship in cornea and external diseases, her research focus shifted to understanding the cellular and molecular pathways responsible for corneal opacification. As a postdoctoral fellow in Dr. Zena Werb’s lab at UCSF, she studied the role of matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) in corneal wound healing. She has continued studying MMPs and corneal repair, and the goals of her current work focus on investigating molecular mechanisms that allow matrix metalloproteinase-12 (MMP12) to have a protective role in the inflammatory, neovascular, and fibrotic responses to corneal injury using animal models and human tissue samples. Her lab is also investigating the impact and therapeutic relevance of specific DNA methylation changes in Fuchs Endothelial Corneal Dystrophy pathogenesis. The overarching goal of her studies is to make discoveries that may guide the development of novel treatments for corneal disease.

Marie Wolf

Associate Specialist
 
Marie got her PhD in cellular and molecular biology from the Universite de Strasbourg, France, where she studied viral translational mechanisms. During her postdoc at Stanford she developed an interest in viral trafficking and microscopy. Having worked with various virus models, she is interested in inflammation, ECM remodeling and molecular changes following ocular infections. She is a passionate knitter and spends far too much of her free time at the zoo.

Ricardo Lamy

Assistant Professor
  
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Ricardo Lamy is an Assistant Professor of Ophthalmology at the University of California, San Francisco. He is passionate about innovation in life sciences and his research interests include corneal diseases, drug delivery to the eye, collagen crosslinking and ocular biomechanics.

Peipei Pan

Postdoctoral Scholar
  
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Peipei completed her PhD in molecular and cell biology at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, where she studied translational and transcriptional mechanisms in the regulation of gene expression in response to environmental and metabolic stresses. Having studied the mechanisms of how genes are normally regulated and the disruption of their regulatory networks may lead to human diseases, She joined Dr. Chan’s lab as a postdoctoral fellow to study the potential role of DNA methylation-mediated epigenetic control in corneal disease.

Selene Clay

Junior Specialist
  
Selene graduated from UC Berkeley in 2015 with a B.A. in Molecular and Cell Biology, where she previously explored modularity in mammalian dentition. She currently helps with the MMP12, Methylation, and Pterygium projects in the lab, and her interests include genetics & genomics, all-you-can-eat restaurants, and playing the guitalele.

Ariana Naaseh

Administrative Assistant
  
Ariana is currently the Study Coordinator in the Department of Ophthalmology working under Drs. Chan, Stewart, and de Alba. She recently graduated from UC Berkeley with a degree in Cognitive Science in May 2016 and hopes to continue her education in medical school in the coming years. In the Chan lab, Ariana coordinates the Pterygium Biobank study and helps with administrative and financial duties in the lab.