Nicholas Apostolopoulos

Nicholas Apostolopoulos is a medical student at Yale School of Medicine, currently completing his medical school thesis in Dr. Vasilis Vasiliou’s lab since the summer of 2016. His research focuses on understanding the role of corneal crystallins ALDH3A1 and ALDH1A1 in ocular physiology and pathophysiology during oxidative stress. His current project aims to address the biological role of crytallin proteins as metabolic enzymes in cornea, lens and retina by utilizing both Aldh3a1/Aldh1a1 knockout and knock-in mouse models. In addition, he studies the role of glutathione (GSH) in the eye development using a mouse strain in which GSH biosynthesis is selectively abolished in surface ectoderm-derived ocular structures. The results so far suggest that GSH plays a critical role in ocular development, and further studies are underway to identify molecular details involved in this process.

Research Interests
Molecular Biology, Genomics, Ophthalmic Genetics, Clinical Ophthalmology, Eye Diseases, Technology Development