Dr. Patrizia Colucci - IRC Enterprise Partnership Scheme Postgraduate Scholar (UCD)
Fighting Blindness is delighted to be an enterprise partner on three Irish Research Council Enterprise Partnership Scheme Awards. Two scholars are based at University College Dublin (UCD) and one postdoctoral fellow is based at South East Technological University (SETU).
Dr. Patrizia Colucci is a post-doc fellow based at UCD and is an IRC Enterprise Partnership Scheme Postgraduate Scholar.
Project: Discovery and Development of Broad-Spectrum Drug Treatments For Inherited and Age-Related Blindness.
Start date: September 2023
Award amount: This project is co-funded between Fighting Blindness and IRC, Fighting Blindness is contributing €33,167 towards the project.
We spoke to Dr. Patrizia Colucci about her current work. Find more below:
- What are the overall aims of the project you are working on, including how it could have an impact on those affected by sight loss?
- Why did you get into research and what do you most enjoy about it?
- What are your other research interests?
- Biography
1. What are the overall aims of the project you are working on, including how it could have an impact on those affected by sight loss?
This research project aims to discover and develop novel broad-acting therapeutics to preserve or restore vision in inherited and age-related forms of retinal degeneration (IRDs and AMD, respectively). IRDs affect over 2 million people worldwide, and only one gene therapy has been approved by the FDA, which targets only one of more than 280 genes linked to retinal pathogenesis. AMD is classified in ‘wet’ and ‘dry’ form. Dry AMD accounts for 90% of all AMD cases, and the two available treatments have only been shown to slow the progression of the lesions without improving functional vision.
The limited number of therapies highlights the urgent need to identify novel drugs that improve vision in broad forms of retinal degeneration. These therapies, called gene-agnostic, are designed to work independent of the gene a patient has that is causing their retinal disease – therefore they aim to treat a wider range of eye conditions.
A key aspect of this research is the use of the tropical fish zebrafish as a powerful animal experimental model to assess the efficacy of novel compounds in rescuing visual function. In fact, zebrafish share the same anatomical retinal structure as humans and their visual function is established early in development, allowing us to perform several behavioural tests to assess vision. In Kennedy’s lab, we use zebrafish lines whose visual function is impaired by inherited or environmental factors, allowing us to test a variety of potential drugs and identify which of them can rescue vision at a functional level.
This project holds the potential to uncover novel small molecule drugs with the capability to restore vision in a broad range of retinal conditions. This could contribute to accelerating the identification of new drug candidates – which can be even further improved by using computer based software to analyse the data. The unbiased discovery of novel compounds can also help understand whether they target common or distinct molecular mechanisms, leading to the identification and targeting of new pathways to treat broad forms of vision loss.
2. Why did you get into research and what do you most enjoy about it?
By nature, I am very curious and enjoy helping others. My research path started with a small research internship at the end of my bachelor’s degree. That was my first, very basic, lab experience and only took short time for the spark to go off! During my master’s degree internship, I gained experience in using zebrafish as animal model in biomedical research and since my PhD I moved my interest in the field of retinal diseases and the development of therapeutical strategies against vision loss using zebrafish.
What I love about research is that we can derive extremely relevant information from even the simplest experiment. Besides, I enjoy working in groups and sharing knowledge and ideas to achieve a common research goal that can have a positive impact on people’s quality of life. For the same reason, I feel privileged to participate in Public Patient Involvement (P.P.I.) activities under the guidance of Fighting Blindness.
Patrizia previously participated in the P.P.I Training event that Fighting Blindness hosted for researchers and those affected by vision loss. You can click below to hear what she said on the day, and you find more about the training here.
3. What are your other research interests?
My scientific background is molecular biology, but I have great interest in nanomedicine and the study of smart drug delivery systems, which I worked on during my PhD. I am also very fascinated by immunology (the study of the immune system), a field that is new to me and that I would like to explore further. I strongly believe that multidisciplinary research and teamwork are necessary and powerful tools for the significative advancement of knowledge to overcome health challenges.
4. Biography
Dr. Patrizia Colucci is a postdoctoral research fellow in the Kennedy lab at the UCD Conway Institute. Her research focuses on the discovery and development of pharmacological treatments able to improve or restore vision using zebrafish as an in vivo model. In particular, she is interested in identifying broad-acting drugs targeting inherited and age-related forms of visual impairment. Before moving to Ireland, Patrizia received her PhD in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology at the University of Siena, Italy, where she worked on the development of a neuroprotective drug delivery system for the posterior eye. Outside of the lab, Patrizia enjoys travelling and cooking for her family and friends.
Learn more about the Irish Research Council Awards here.