A Lifelong Science Nerd is Winning the Fight Against Blindness

Shannon Boye, Ph.D., an assistant professor at the University of Florida College of Medicine, is at the top of her game. She’s emerged as a renowned retinal researcher, making invaluable contributions to the advancement of treatments and cures including the development of gene therapy, now in a clinical trial, for Leber congenital amaurosis (LCA1, GUCY2D mutations). Her lab is also working toward a human study of a dual-vector system for delivering large genes into the retina — genes that don’t fit into most viral gene delivery systems used in human studies. While her dual-vector efforts are for MYO7A, the gene associated with Usher syndrome type 1B, the approach shows promise for delivering other large genes such as ABCA4 (Stargardt disease) and USH2A (Usher syndrome and non-syndromic retinitis pigmentosa).

But like the career paths of most researchers, Shannon’s journey in the science field has been lifelong and marked by a variety of achievements, setbacks, and unexpected epiphanies.

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