Tess Ames
18th November 2021

ORBITAL ESR Flavia Messina wins first place for her presentation at UCD Conway Festival

ORBITAL ESR Flavia Messina, based out of UCD, was awarded first prize for her presentation at the UCD Conway Festival.

The UCD Conway Festival is an annual event which showcases recent scientific research and innovation achievements by scientists in UCD Conway Institute. Featuring plenary lectures from leading scientists from industry, academia or clinical settings as well as a programme of scientific talks, poster presentations and a career discussion forum for researchers at the start of the career ladder, this festival showcases the latest in scientific excellence from UCD.

Flavia’s research: Evaluation of 7,8-dihydroxyflavone and OPGG-A2 retinal protection and generation & characterization of sustained release ocular implants for neuroprotective drug efficacy

AMD and IRD are back of the eye pathologies leading to visual impairments and often total blindness. Although much progress has been made so far, effective therapeutic intervention is still needed.
In this project, 7,8-dihydroxyflavone (7,8-DHF), a reported TrkB agonist, and its novel structural analog OPGG-A2,  have shown to improve vision in a zebrafish model of inherited blindness. Furthermore, the mechanism by which 7,8-DHF restores vision is investigated and biodegradable nano/microparticles for ocular drug delivery are characterized.
To find out more about Flavia’s research, follow us on social media or read more, here.

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