Andy Fischer, PhD

What do you research, and what brought you to that area of study?
I study the mechanisms that control the ability of support cells (Müller glia) in retina to become proliferating progenitor cells that regenerate functional neurons. This process involves coordinated signals between damaged neurons, Müller glia and immune cells. My lab has adopted a comparative approach, wherein Müller glia in the zebrafish retina have a robust regenerative potential, whereas this potential is diminished in chick and potently suppressed in mammals. The first identification of Müller glia as a cellular source of proliferating progenitor-like cells was a serendipitous finding while I was studying how damaged retinas impact vision-guided ocular growth and the pathogenesis of myopia as a PhD student. Sometimes it’s better to be lucky than good. 

What impact do you hope your research will have?
Harnessing the regenerative potential of Müller glia holds the potential to treat sight-threatening diseases of the retina such as age-related macular degeneration, retinitis pigmentosa, diabetic retinopathy and glaucoma. Interestingly, many of signals that coordinate the regenerative potential of Müller glia also have profound effects upon neuronal survival in damaged retinas, which has more immediate implications for developing new treatments to slow the progression of retinal disorders including the loss of visual acuity that often results from traumatic brain injury.

What excites you about doing interdisciplinary research at OSU?
Interdisciplinary research provides great opportunities to learn new biology and learn new techniques. I’ve been fortunate to learn through collaborations with many CBI faculty interested in generating single cell RNA-seq libraries and performing bioinformatic analyses.

What do you like to do in your free time?
In my free time I enjoy cooking, playing guitar, fishing, and renovating houses. These activities usually involve different combinations of my 6 children.