Eric A. Pierce, MD, PhD

Dr. Eric Pierce is a full-time clinician scientist. He is also the Associate Director of the Electroretinography Service and the Berman-Gund Laboratory for the Study of Retinal Degenerations, the Director of the Ocular Genomics Institute at Mass. Eye and Ear, and the Sol and Libe Friedman Associate Professor of Ophthalmology at Harvard Medical School.

As a group, retinal degenerations are a common cause of blindness. The overall goal of Dr. Pierce’s clinical and research program has been to improve the understanding of the molecular bases of inherited retinal degenerations and related cilia disorders so that rational therapies can be developed for these diseases.

Dr. Pierce pursues his objectives through a combination of laboratory-based investigation of retinal biology and disease, clinical care of children and adults with retinal degenerative disorders, and clinical research. Dr. Pierce is currently working to develop gene therapy for several forms of retinal degeneration.

 Publications

A representative list (2006 - 2012) is available through www.pubmed.gov.

Liu Q, Tan G, Levenkova N, Li T, Pugh EN Jr, Rux JJ, Speicher DW, Pierce EA. The proteome of the mouse photoreceptor sensory cilium complex. Mol Cell Proteomics. 2007 Aug; 6(8): 1299-317.

Simonelli F, Maguire AM, Testa F, Pierce EA, Mingozzi F, Bennicelli JL, Rossi S, Marshall K, Banfi S, Surace EM, Sun J, Redmond TM, Zhu X, Shindler KS, Ying GS, Ziviello C, Acerra C, Wright JF, McDonnell JW, High KA, Bennett J, Auricchio A. Gene therapy for Leber's congenital amaurosis is safe and effective through 15 years after vector administration. Mol Ther. 2010 Mar; 18(3): 643-50.

Graziotto JJ, Farkas MH, Bujakowska K, Deramaudt BM, Zhang Q, Nandrot EF, Inglehearn CF, Bhattacharya SS, Pierce EA. Three gene-targeted mouse models of RNA splicing factor RP show late-onset RPE and retinal degeneration. Invest Ophthalmol Vis Sci. 2011 Jan; 52(1): 190-8.

Davis EE, Zhang Q, Liu Q, Diplas BH, Davey LM, Hartley J, Stoetzel C, Szymanska K, Ramaswami G, Logan CV, Muzny DM, Young AC, Wheeler DA, Cruz P, Morgan M, Lewis LR, Cherukuri P, Maskeri B, Hansen NF, Mullikin JC, Blakesley RW, Bouffard GG, NISC Comparative Sequencing Program, Gyapay G, Rieger S, Tönshoff B, Kern I, Soliman NA, Neuhaus TJ, Swoboda KJ, Kayserili H, Gallagher TE, Lewis RA, Bergmann C, Otto EA, Saunier S, Scambler PJ, Beales PL, Gleeson JG, Maher ER, Attié-Bitach T, Dollfus H, Johnson CA, Green ED, Gibbs RA, Hildebrandt F, Pierce EA, Katsanis N. TTC21B contributes both causal and modifying alleles across the ciliopathy spectrum. Nat Genet. 2011 Mar; 43(3): 189-96.

Grant GR, Farkas MH, Pizarro AD, Lahens NF, Schug J, Brunk BP, Stoeckert CJ, Hogenesch JB, Pierce EA. Comparative analysis of RNA-Seq alignment algorithms and the RNA-Seq unified mapper (RUM). Bioinformatics. 2011 Sep 15; 27(18): 2518-28.

 Page updated: February 27, 2013