David R. Hinton Professor Pathology, Neurosurgery, Ophthamology Keck School of Medicine

Education:
MD 1978 Medicine - University of Toronto, Ontario, Canada
FRCP(C) 1983 Neuropathology - University of Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Postdoctoral Research Fellowship:
1978 - 1979 University of Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Started at USC: 1988

Research Topics: Aging, Gene Therapy, Vision Research, Cellular Neurobiology

Research Description

Dr. Hinton's research focuses on the response of the outer retina to injury and how this response can lead to blinding disorders such as proliferative vitreoretinopathy (PVR) and choroidal neovascularization (CNV). PVR occurs as a wound healing response to severe ocular trauma or retinal detachment while CNV occurs primarily as a blinding complication of age-related macular degeneration. He has established the central role of the retinal pigment epithelial (RPE) cell in these disorders and has demonstrated novel mechanisms for growth factor activation of these cells. He is investigating the pathologic consequences of this activation on RPE migration, proliferation and gene expression. In particular he is interested in how the activated RPE cell can alter the local retinal microenvironment to promote the development of intraocular proliferative membranes and neovascularization from the adjacent choroidal endothelium. Dr. Hinton has developed and validated several in vitro and in vivo models of PVR and CNV and has used these models to elucidate basic mechanisms of disease and to evaluate novel therapeutic approaches to the disorders. He is especially interested in therapeutic approaches involving manipulation of growth factor receptors, and their intracellular signaling pathways. Dr. Hinton is also interested in the pathophysiology of viral infection in the brain and its relationship to demyelination. He is particularly interested in the mechanisms involved in leukocyte infiltration into the brain in viral infection.