Education:
2005 BS/MS Biochemistry, Universidad Nacional del Sur, Argentina
2012 PhD Biochemistry, Universidad Nacional del Sur, Argentina
2014 Postdoctoral training, University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center
Clinical/Research Interests:
Aging is the major driver to the pathogenesis of neurodegenerative diseases such as age-related macular degeneration (AMD), characterized by the irreversible loss of vision. Atrophy of the retinal pigmented epithelium (RPE) layer is an AMD hallmark that often precedes photoreceptor cell loss implicating RPE dysfunction as a pathogenic driver of disease onset. On the other hand, retina Müller glia, microglia, and vascular cell activation are also involved in disease pathogenesis. The overall significance of my research stems from the premise that maladaptive changes in the epigenome, mainly DNA methylation and chromatin accessibility, accumulate in a cell-specific fashion in RPE, retina glia (microglia and Müller glia), and vascular cells (endothelial cells, mural cells) with advanced age, as well as in response to environmental factors, such as diet and oxidative stress, to influence gene expression profiles, leading to cell dysfunction and contributing to disease pathogenesis. My research aims to provide fundamental knowledge to the field and new biological/functional insights into RPE/retina aging as well as identify cell-specific epigenomic targets for manipulation that are relevant to the design of better therapies to treat neurodegenerative diseases, such as AMD, diabetic retinopathy, and retinopathy of prematurity.
- Cell-specific epigenomic and transcriptomic contributions to retina and brain disease
- Interaction between aging, diet, and inflammation in the degenerative processes of the retina/RPE
- Dietary interventions to manipulate age-related epigenomic/transcriptomic changes in brain and retina/RPE
Funding:
Knights Templar Eye Foundation Center for Pediatric Vision Research
Role: PI; 07/01/2025-06/30/2026
“Endothelial cell- specific translatomic and epigenomic contributions to retinopathy of prematurity”
M2025002N BrightFocus Foundation
Role: PI; 07/01/2025-06/30/2028
“The role of macrophages/microglia in retinal pigmented epithelium function with aging and Western diet”
R01EY034946, National Eye Institute/National Institutes of Health
Freeman (contact MPI), Role: MPI; 03/01/2024-01/31/2029
“Retinal Pigmented Epithelium epigenome dysregulation with aging and modulation by diet”
Select Honors and Accomplishments:
2025 Elizabeth Anderson Award for Macular Degeneration Research. Extended by Brightfocus Foundation. “The role of macrophages/microglia in retinal pigmented epithelium function with aging and Western diet”
2021 San Diego Nathan Shock Center Pilot Grant Award. “A novel inducible cell-specific mouse model for chromatin accessibility and transcriptomic studies of retina Müller glia in age -related macular degeneration” (results presented at La Jolla Aging Meeting, March 25, 2022)
2016 International Society for Eye Research (ISER) travel fellowship to present research at the 2016 ISER Biennial meeting (Tokyo, Japan)
2014 Provost’s Office Award for excellence in postdoctoral research. University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center, Graduate Research Education and Technology Symposium
2011 National Eye Institute Travel Grant to present research at the ARVO Annual Meeting (Fort Lauderdale, Florida)
2010 National Eye Institute Fellowship “Fundamental Issues in Vision Research”, at the Marine Biological Laboratory, Woods Hole, Massachusetts
Select Publications:
Chucair-Elliott AJ, Ocañas SR, Stanford DR, Ansere CA, Buettner KB, Porter H, Eliason NL, Reid JJ, Sharpe AL, Stout MB, Beckstead MJ, Miller BF, Richardson A, Freeman WM (2020). Inducible cell-specific mouse models for paired epigenetic and transcriptomic studies of microglia and astroglia. Commun Biol. Published online. PMCID: PMC7678837
Chucair-Elliott AJ, Ocañas SR, Pham K, Van der Veldt M, Cheyney A, Stanford DR, Gurley J, Elliott MH, Freeman WM (2022). Translatomic response of retinal Müller glia to acute and chronic stress. Neurobiol Dis. 175:105931. PMCID: PMC9875566
Ana J. Chucair-Elliott, Sarah R. Ocanas, Kevin Pham, Scott Plafker, Michael Stout, Michael H. Elliott, Willard M. Freeman (2024). Age- and sex- divergent translatomic responses of the mouse retinal pigmented epithelium. Neurobiology of Aging. PMCID: PMC11173338
Chucair-Elliott, A.J., Pham, K., Cleuren, A.C.A, Schafer, C.M., Griffin, C.T., Ocanas, S.R., Freeman, W.M., and Elliott, M.H. (2024) Comparative analysis of in vivo endothelial cell translatomes across central nervous system vascular beds. Exp. Eye Res. 248:110101. PMCID: PMC11532013
Chucair-Elliott AJ, Elliott MH, Wang J, Moiseyev GP, Ma JX, Politi LE, Rotstein NP, Akira S, Uematsu S, Ash JD (2012). Leukemia inhibitory factor coordinates the down-regulation of the visual cycle in the retina and retinal-pigmented epithelium. J Biol Chem. 287(29):24092-102. PMCID: PMC3397836
Link to full publication list:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/myncbi/ana.chucair-elliott.1/bibliography/public/