Von Bartheld Lab

Mission

Evaluating the underlying mechanisms of strabismus to better understand global prevalence, ethnic variations, reasons for strabismus epidemics and potential prevention of vision loss.

Key areas of focus

  • Contributed to new insights in comparative and evolutionary neurobiology, neurotrophic factor biology, cell counting methodology, extraocular muscle physiology, mechanisms of loss of smell in COVID and epidemiology of strabismus.
  • Examine risk factors, such as the role of the orbital anatomy and risk genes that may explain the substantial ethnic variation in strabismus prevalence and types.
  • Exploring the underlying mechanisms for increased strabismus in cerebral palsy, in Down syndrome and why one type of strabismus, exotropia, is one of the strongest risk factors for schizophrenia.

Lab team

Christopher von Bartheld, M.D., is a professor of Physiology and Cell Biology with a specialized interest in strabismus, a misalignment of the eyes that occurs in 2-3% of people and can cause vision loss. The von Bartheld Lab explores the global prevalence of strabismus, ethnic variation, reasons for strabismus epidemics and the underlying causes for increased strabismus in certain conditions. The lab is currently examining the association between the prevalence of strabismus types and gene expression (SNPs) of relevant signaling molecules such as RUNX2 and TWIST1.

  • Christopher von Bartheld, M.D.: Principal Investigator
  • Andrea Agarwal, BS: Lab Tech

Notable research findings

  • Pioneered the validation and calibration of a new cell counting method that showed that humans have 90% fewer glial cells in the brain than was previously taught in all major textbooks for over 50 years.
  • Debunked the myth of a trillion glial cells in human brains. Our work on loss of smell in COVID has resulted in several additional highly cited papers.
  • Discovered that support cells, rather than olfactory neurons, become infected by the coronavirus, that different ethnicities have different susceptibility to the virus' effect on olfaction and that virus variants differ in their ability to attack the human olfactory system.
Research Publications

Equipment, technology and techniques

  • Optiphot Nikon microscope
  • Embedding and thin-sectioning of tissue sections

Active grants and research projects

  1. Does Ethnic Variation of the Orbit Determine the Prevalence of Horizontal Strabismus?
    • Award: R21EY031729
    • Funding organization: National Institute of Health (NIH) - National Eye Institute (NEI)