Principal Investigator
Lab Staff
Nathan Glaza received a bachelor of science degree in Biochemistry & Molecular Biology, with a minor in Pharmacology & Toxicology, from Michigan State University in 2022. Previously, working in the lab of Dr. Leah Owen at the Moran Eye Center, he studied the genetic and molecular causes of blinding eye disease, including retinopathy of prematurity, pediatric strabismus and amblyopia, and age-related macular degeneration. He aspires to pursue a career in medicine while also continuing research.
Outside of the lab, he enjoys watching and playing a variety of sports, hiking, skiing, and exploring the state of Utah.
Matyas Szilagyi currently is working towards a bachelor's in biology with an emphasis in anatomy and physiology alongside a minor in integrated human biology and maintains an interest in the neurosciences for research. As in research Matyas has worked in several different laboratories picking up skills from several fields such as synthetic chemistry synthesizing under researched molecules such as ynecyanamides, neurology specifically in movement disorders such as Parkinsons' and Essential Tremor attempting to better patient outcomes and methodology of assessment, and within neuroscience work in olfaction determining neural circuits of the olfactory bulb in order to understand the neural code of olfaction in mice and now in the retina characterizing the physiology of the retina and further understanding of degenerative retinal diseases under Dr. Roy.
Will Wheatley has worked in academic labs and biotechnology companies in Utah and California, with an interest in understanding how organisms work and how that knowledge can help treat human diseases. Among other things, he has worked on tissue culture cell assays of chemical carcinogenesis, bacterial expression of proteins for possible diagnostic kits, reagents for DNA sequencing by capillary electrophoresis, growth, and characterization of human glial progenitor cells, and finding proteins that are bound by the soluble prorenin receptor using biotin ligase and antibody pulldown technologies.
Working in the Roy Lab, Wheatley is excited to enter a new phase in his research career and explore the retina and how it can offer new insights into sensory processing and diseases.