Cheng Lab

As Halloween approaches, the lab celebrated Gryffin's birthday! Yet another spooky event for the month of October. Happy Birthday Gryffin!

We wish you all the best Dr. Hsuan-Yeh Pan! We've known Hsuan-Yeh since before he earned his doctorate and have enjoyed funny conversations with him as lab neighbors. We hope to see you at some conferences soon!

This year's HVRS went great! Well done presenting your talks Gryffin and Isaiah! Also, we really enjoyed learning about the research happening from other institutes! We are eager to hear research updates at next year's symposium!

After 2.5 years, @peterhuynh.bsky.social has decided to explore new career opportunities. Thanks for sharing your insight & experience. You've significantly improved our ability to analyze & refine vast, complex lens data. We'll miss your humor & diligence and wish you the best in your explorations!

This past month, the lab went to waft Wally for the second time! He was not shy about sharing the reason why he's classified as a corpse flower! Looking forward to scenting you again soon Wally!

The lab recently celebrated Jenna and Michael's birthdays by the vine at Butler Winery! It was a great time eating, drinking, and playing games! Happy Birthday you two!

https://www.frontiersin.org/research-topics/54412/women-in-lens-and-cataract/magazine

The article collection where Dr. Barbara Pierscionek & Dr. Cheng were co-editors was published in May! Together, they wrote an editorial highlighting 7 original research & 2 reviews on lens & cataract research. eBook of the entire collection is available below! tinyurl.com/2b3b2nc8
#VisionScience

Dr. Dawn Meyer, research optometrist, and Dazia Wilkins, research technician, demonstrating what an eye exam at the Atwater Eye Care Clinic is like.

Members of the Cheng lab at IUSO presenting anatomical examples of the eye.

Gummy bears being used to demonstrate the difference between light absorption and light reflectance.

Sunglasses dispensing station where the GEMS participants can choose free sunglasses, made by the IUSO optometry students, that will protect their eyes!

In March, the School of Optometry volunteered to run some #VisionScience activities for the young visionaries at GEMS 2025! As always, the kids' excitement and curiosity were off the charts, making it a great time! We are looking forward to continuing sharing our knowledge about the eye in 2026!

The lab celebrated Isaiah's birthday a few months ago, but who doesn't appreciate a belated birthday post? Happy Birthday Isaiah!

We had a great visit from Dr. Yuka Okada in March! Enjoy a photo from when we took a break from collaborating! See you again soon, Dr. Okada!

Gryffin presented his lab work at Oxyopia on March 28th. Titled: "Eph-ephrin signaling is required for normal lens growth, shape, and nucleus stiffness". His work examined mechanical properties of the lens. He did a great job presenting his findings with his peers!

@peterhuynh.bsky.social presented his research at IUSO's Oxyopia on March 14. Titled: "Spatial-Temporal Topography of Ephs and Ephrins in the Lens" it covered the work he's done to narrow down potential binding partners for EphA2 or ephrin-A5 via qPCR. Excellent job presenting your challenging work!

At the end of May, the lab was able to gather and celebrate Dr. Cheng's & Arya's birthdays, Jackson's optometry school graduation, Jenna's vision science M.S. conferment, and Gryffin's graduation with a B.S. in optometry! Congratulations everyone! The lab would not be where it is without you all!

In addition to Gryffin and Jackson earning degrees, Jenna was awarded her Masters of Science in Vision Science, based on the hard work that she has put in with the lab! Her thesis work can be found here: www.aging-us.com/article/2061.... Congratulations Jenna!

Gryffin was admitted early to the Indiana University School of Optometry Program in place of finishing senior year of undergrad. Upon completion of his second year at IUSO, he received his Bachelor of Science in Optometry. Congratulations Gryffin!

Congratulations to Jackson! He graduated at the beginning of May with his Doctor of Optometry degree! We wish you all the best and thank you for the laughs the past few years!

Writing a research article: advice to beginners Writing research papers does not come naturally to most of us. The typical research paper is a highly codified rhetorical form [1,2]. Knowledge of the rule

academic.oup.com/intqhc/artic...

Congratulations to Gryffin on receiving his white coat at the end of March! With his white coat, Gryffin has been spending much of his time over in the clinic applying the knowledge and skills he's gained in the past two years! Congratulations again Gryffin!

Throw back to when the lab was getting some field experience examining how animals use their lens at the Indianapolis Zoo!!

Waking up from the food coma to finally give thanks to everyone (past and present) for making the lab a great place to hang out!

We examined EphA2's ability to signal canonically via receptor-ligand interaction and non-canonically via ligand-independent binding. Non-canonical EphA2 signaling is typically associated with cancerous cells or tissues.

Congrats Jenna, Michael, Jackson, and Isaiah on the new article; Jenna and Isaiah's first with the lab! Of note, our data is the first showing that non-canonical EphA2 signaling is active in normal lenses, and our results suggest a physiological function. t.ly/7i8Ve #VisionScience #AcademicSky

Happy Birthday to Gryffin! Glad we were able to fit in a birthday lunch amidst all the work and study!

Dr. Cheng's chapter on Lens Structure is now available digitally, ahead of the full Encyclopedia of the Eye, 2nd Edition's physical print. Contact our lab (ckcheng@iu.edu or mpvu@iu.edu) to get a digital copy of the chapter! #academicsky #visionsciencesky

We recently had Dr. Yuka Okada visit us for some research and some fun! Thanks for coming Yuka, we'll see you again soon!

The lab was able to celebrate Peter's birthday recently with a fun lunch! Happy Birthday Peter!

Read our new review on tissue, cellular, & molecular factors for lens biomechanics! Increased lens stiffness & decreased elasticity are long believed to contribute age-related loss of accommodation, presbyopia, & thus reading glasses. #academicsky www.frontiersin.org/journals/oph...

Very excited to share that Gryffin Flowers was awarded a scholarship from @IU_Optometry to pursue his M.S. degree alongside his O.D.! His research project investigates the cellular and molecular mechanisms affecting eye lens biomechanical properties. Way to go, Gryffin! #academicsky

Congrats to Jenna Horner & Gryffin Flowers on earning best talk and best poster awards at Heartland Vision Research Symposium 2024! HVRS highlights innovative vision research from the US heartland. This year, the keynote was Dr. Michael Chiang, NEI director. #visionscience

With some cooperation from the weather, we were able to celebrate Jenna's birthday!