Dr. Gary Yam obtained his PhD from The Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK), where he studied viral gene integration to nuclear protein scaffold during carcinogenesis. He started his vision research during his post-doctoral training under Prof. Dennis Lam and Prof. C.P. Pang at the Department of Ophthalmology & Visual Sciences, CUHK. He then joined the Roth Lab, University of Zurich, Switzerland, as a research scientist and studied chaperone-mediated protein rescue for Fabry’s disease and myocilin-caused primary open-angle glaucoma. His scientific contribution was acknowledged through the prestigious Alfred Vogt Prize presented by the Swiss Ophthalmology Society and a patented method and medication.
In 2006, he returned to CUHK as an Assistant Professor, and further explored chaperone-mediated rescue of protein misfolding and mis-trafficking and epigenetic regulation in corneal epithelial differentiation. He received Best Research Awards from Actions For Vision in 2007 and 2009. From 2012 to 2019, he was a Principal Investigator in the Singapore Eye Research Institute. He worked with Prof. Jodhbir S. Mehta to study stromal cell therapy for corneal scarring, scaffold-based tissue engineering, and novel biomaterials as substitutes to rebuild corneas.
Dr. Yam joined the Department of Ophthalmology at the University of Pittsburgh in 2020.
- CUHK, Hong Kong SAR, Postdoctoral Fellow, Ophthalmology & Visual Sciences
- University of Zurich, Switzerland, Department of Pathology, Postdoctoral Fellow, Div Cell & Molecular Pathology
- The Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK), PhD
Education & Training
Dr. Yam's lab focuses on developing innovative therapeutic methods to reduce corneal fibrosis and scarring. His pre-clinical work has identified the anti-scarring effects of corneal stromal stem cells (CSSC) mediated by anti-fibrotic cytokines and microRNAs delivered via nanosized microvesicles. He secured funding from the Hillman Foundation and NIH Regenerative Medicine Innovative Project U01 to advance this CSSC approach from bench to bedside for corneal scar management. His lab also developed quality control assays and methods to predict the healing potency of CSSC. Currently, his team is conducting pharmacological-toxicology and GLP validation studies to prepare for FDA-IND applications and clinical trials. Besides, his research has discovered corneal endothelial progenitors that open the avenue of regenerative therapy for corneal endothelial dystrophies.