My Research
On the left, an immunofluorescent light micrograph of a retinal cross-section. Photoreceptor and bipolar terminals are shown in blue (labeled with VGLUT1), off-cone bipolar terminals are shown in red (labeled with synaptotagmin-2, and on-bipolar cells are shown in green (labeled with G-gamma-13). On the right, shown in my lab office is a quilt my mom, art quilter Vicki Conley, designed and made called Shannon's Eye of the Storm which features the micrograph on the left in the central pupil.
When I'm not in my studio sewing or designing, I can usually be found in my lab at the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center. My training is in pharmacology, but my current research and teaching efforts are focused on the cell biology and biochemistry of vascular cognitive impairment and dementia. We are interested in understanding how problems that occur in aging blood vessels in the brain can contribute to the development of cognitive impairment.
Secondary projects in the lab focus on the pathogenic mechanisms that underlie multiple different forms of inherited blindness, including retinitis pigmentosa, macular dystrophy, and pattern dystrophy. These are all diseases that affect the retina, the tissue in the back of the eye responsible for sensing light and converting it into a chemical signal that can be sent to the brain and processed as vision.
My research often finds its way (directly or indirectly) into my art, and I love to share it with those who are interested, so e-mail me if you have questions! For a more technical description, feel free to check out my lab website here or academic publications on pubmed.
On the left is a transmission electron micrograph of murine rod photoreceptors captured by my friend Barb Nagel, and on the right, my quilt "Do You See What I See" is my colorful interpretation of it.