Prof. Swindle-Reilly chosen for 2021 Annual Emerging Vision Scientists program

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Swindle-Reilly and students examine polymers
Swindle-Reilly, center, uses polymers to treat diseases in the eye.

Assistant Professor Katelyn Swindle-Reilly has been selected for participation in the 2021 Annual Emerging Vision Scientists (AEVR) program.

Swindle-Reilly, who worked as a senior scientist at Rochal Industries LLC prior to joining Ohio State in 2016, has three appointments at Ohio State in biomedical engineering; chemical and biomolecular engineering; and ophthalmology and visual sciences.

In the AEVR program, early-stage investigators from departments of ophthalmology and schools/colleges of optometry nationwide exhibit results of their cutting-edge research and then advocate with Congressional delegations.

Swindle-Reilly was recently named Program Chair for the Ophthalmic Biomaterials Special Interest Group of the Society of Biomaterials. In addition, her work was recently featured on the cover of the Journal of Controlled Release. In 2019 she was named a finalist for The Ohio State University 2018 Early Career Innovator of the Year Award.

In 2019, Professor Swindle-Reilly founded and serves as chief technology officer of Vitranu, Inc., a startup company to commercialize the ocular drug delivery technologies she has developed here. The technology provides a sustained release of drugs that can drastically reduce the number of eye injections needed to treat patients with wet age-related macular degeneration. She now has four patents, the most recent of which is for methods to treat pruritus.

Professor Swindle-Reilly's work in the above-mentioned drug delivery technologies and in designing hydrogels as vitreous substitutes in ophthalmological applications has earned her support from the President's Research Excellence (PRE) Accelerator Grant program; the Ohio Lions Eye Research Foundation (Lois Hagelberger-Huebner Young Investigator Award, 2017-20); Ohio Lions Eye Research Foundation Disaster Relief Grant, 2020-21; multiple grants from The Ohio State University Institute for Materials Research; and the Barbara L. Crow Investigator-Concept Grant, Lions Vision Gift in 2019-22.

The Alliance for Eye and Vision Research (AEVR), founded in 1993 by the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology (ARVO), the American Academy of Ophthalmology (AAO), and Association of University Professors of Ophthalmology (AUPO), is an advocacy arm of the National Eye Institute within the National Institutes of Health.

Together with its affiliate, the National Alliance for Eye and Vision Research (NAEVR), which is a coalition of nearly 50 professional, patient and consumer, and industry member organizations involved in eye and vision research, NAEVR/AEVR emphasize that National Eye Institute-funded research to save/restore vision has served to reduce healthcare costs, increase productivity, maintain independence, and improve the quality of life for all Americans. 

Category: Faculty