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Frans Vinberg, PhD

Languages spoken: English

Academic Information

Departments: Ophthalmology/Visual Sciences - Assistant Professor

Academic Office Information

frans.vinberg@utah.edu

(801) 585-7371

John A. Moran Eye Center
S3140C/Ophthalmology
65 N Mario Capecchi, Room:
Salt Lake City, UT 84132

Over 10 years of experience in ocular research, specifically in retinal (patho)physiology. Development and commercialization of a novel instrument to measure electrical activity of the retinal cells from ex vivo animal or human donor retina samples. Tenure track Assistant Professor of Ophthalmology and adjunct faculty in the Biomedical Engineering department. A member of the University of Utah Neuroscience program and admission committee, and a course director and lecturer of the Cellular and Molecular Neuroscience course. Research is focused on understanding the mechanisms in the photoreceptor cells that enable vision over a wide range of light intensities from a moonless night to a sunny day on the powdery slopes. Furthermore, we aim to elucidate how these mechanisms are affected in the major blinding diseases including Age-Related Macular Degeneration, Diabetic Retinopathy and Retinitis Pigmentosa.

Research Statement

Our focus is to study how mammalian photoreceptors function and interact with retinal pigment epithelium (RPE), bipolar and Müller glia cells to enable vision over a wide range of light intensities. The main goal is to understand how the interactions and function of these retinal cells are affected in major blinding diseases, including Retinitis Pigmentosa, Diabetic Retinopathy, and Age-Related Macular Degeneration.

Education History

Postdoctoral Fellowship Washington University School of Medicine
Visual Neuroscience, Photoreceptor Biology and Pathobiology
Postdoctoral Fellow
Postdoctoral Fellowship Aalto University School of Science
Photoreceptor Physiology
Postdoctoral Fellow
Doctoral Training Aalto University School of Science
Biomedical Engineering and Photoreceptor Physiology
D.Sc.
Graduate Training Helsinki University of Technology
Biomedical Engineering and Engineering Physics
M.Sc.

Selected Publications

  1. Hutto RA, Bisbach CM, Abbas F, Brock DC, Cleghorn WM, Parker ED, Bauer BH, Ge W, Vinberg F, Hurley JB, Brockerhoff SE (2019). Increasing Ca2+ in photoreceptor mitochondria alters metabolites, accelerates photoresponse recovery, and reveals adaptations to mitochondrial stress. Cell Death Differ, 27(3), 1067-1085.
  2. Mure LS, Vinberg F, Hanneken A, Panda S (2019). Functional diversity of human intrinsically photosensitive retinal ganglion cells. Science, 366(6470), 1251-1255.
  3. Vinberg F, Palczewska G, Zhang J, Komar K, Wojtkowski M, Kefalov VJ, Palczewski K (2019). Sensitivity of Mammalian Cone Photoreceptors to Infrared Light. Neuroscience, 416, 100-108.
  4. Getter T, Gulati S, Zimmerman R, Chen Y, Vinberg F, Palczewski K (2019). Stereospecific modulation of dimeric rhodopsin. FASEB J, 33(8), 9526-9539.
  5. Vinberg F, Chen J, Kefalov VJ (2018). Regulation of calcium homeostasis in the outer segments of rod and cone photoreceptors. Prog Retin Eye Res, 67, 87-101.
  6. Vinberg F, Kefalov VJ (2018). Investigating the Ca2+-dependent and Ca2+-independent mechanisms for mammalian cone light adaptation. Sci Rep, 8(1), 15864.
  7. Vinberg F, Peshenko IV, Chen J, Dizhoor AM, Kefalov VJ (2018). Guanylate cyclase-activating protein 2 contributes to phototransduction and light adaptation in mouse cone photoreceptors. J Biol Chem, 293(19), 7457-7465.
  8. Frans Vinberg, Vladimir Kefalov (2012). In-to-Ex Vivo ERG Instrument.

Global Impact

Education History

Type School Degree
Doctoral Training Aalto University School of Science
Biomedical Engineering and Photoreceptor Physiology
D.Sc.
Graduate Training Helsinki University of Technology
Biomedical Engineering and Engineering Physics
M.Sc.
Postdoctoral Fellowship Aalto University School of Science
Photoreceptor Physiology
Postdoctoral Fellow