Dennis Clegg

About

Dennis O. Clegg is a Professor at the University of California, Santa Barbara, affiliated with the Center for Stem Cell Biology and Engineering, the Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology (MCDB) department, and the Neuroscience program. His research focuses on stem cell biology and engineering, as indicated by his role as Co-Director of the Laboratory for Stem Cell Biology and Engineering. He is involved in advancing understanding and development in these fields through his leadership and research activities at UCSB.

Research topics

• Biology
• Genetics
• Medicine
• Surgery
• Ophthalmology
• Internal medicine
• Computational biology
• Evolutionary biology
• Cell biology
• Molecular biology

Selected publications

• One-Year Follow-Up in a Phase 1/2a Clinical Trial of an Allogeneic RPE Cell Bioengineered Implant for Advanced Dry Age-Related Macular Degeneration

  Translational Vision Science & Technology · 2021 · 85 citations

  Purpose: To report 1-year follow-up of a phase 1/2a clinical trial testing a composite subretinal implant having polarized human embryonic stem cell (hESC)-derived retinal pigment epithelium (RPE) cells on an ultrathin parylene substrate in subjects with advanced non-neovascular age-related macular degeneration (NNAMD). Methods: The phase 1/2a clinical trial included 16 subjects in two cohorts. The main endpoint was safety assessed at 365 days using ophthalmic and systemic exams. Pseudophakic su…

  DOI

• Survival of an HLA-mismatched, bioengineered RPE implant in dry age-related macular degeneration

  Stem Cell Reports · 2022 · 50 citations

  cells in the tissue. Despite significant donor-host HLA mismatch, no clinical signs of retinitis, vitreitis, vasculitis, choroiditis, or serologic immune response were detected in the deceased subject or any other subject in the study. Subretinally implanted, HLA-mismatched donor RPE cells survive, express functional markers, and do not elicit clinically detectable intraocular inflammation or serologic immune responses even without long-term immunosuppression.

  DOI

• Long-term Follow-up of a Phase 1/2a Clinical Trial of a Stem Cell-Derived Bioengineered Retinal Pigment Epithelium Implant for Geographic Atrophy

  Ophthalmology · 2023-12-30 · 40 citations

  article
  PublisherDOI

• A haplotype-resolved genome assembly of the Nile rat facilitates exploration of the genetic basis of diabetes

  BMC Biology · 2022 · 25 citations

  BACKGROUND: The Nile rat (Avicanthis niloticus) is an important animal model because of its robust diurnal rhythm, a cone-rich retina, and a propensity to develop diet-induced diabetes without chemical or genetic modifications. A closer similarity to humans in these aspects, compared to the widely used Mus musculus and Rattus norvegicus models, holds the promise of better translation of research findings to the clinic. RESULTS: We report a 2.5 Gb, chromosome-level reference genome assembly with…

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Efficient derivation of transgene-free porcine induced pluripotent stem cells enables in vitro modeling of species-specific developmental timing

  Stem Cell Reports · 2023-11-09 · 19 citations

  articleOpen access

  Sus scrofa domesticus (pig) has served as a superb large mammalian model for biomedical studies because of its comparable physiology and organ size to humans. The derivation of transgene-free porcine induced pluripotent stem cells (PiPSCs) will, therefore, benefit the development of porcine-specific models for regenerative biology and its medical applications. In the past, this effort has been hampered by a lack of understanding of the signaling milieu that stabilizes the porcine pluripotent sta…

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

Recent grants

• NIH Grant R01EY009736

  NIH · $1.1M · 2003

Frequent coauthors

• Mark S. Humayun

  Southern California Eye Institute

  44 shared

• David R. Hinton

  University of Southern California

  35 shared

• Sherry T. Hikita

  University of California, Santa Barbara

  24 shared

• Danhong Zhu

  Putian University

  23 shared

• Biju B. Thomas

  University of Southern California

  23 shared

• Lincoln V. Johnson

  Menlo School

  22 shared

• Britney O. Pennington

  University of California, Santa Barbara

  21 shared

• James A. Thomson

  Morgridge Institute for Research

  17 shared

Labs

• Dennis O. Clegg LabPI

  Not provided

Education

• B.S., Biochemistry

  UC Davis

• Ph.D., Biochemistry

  UC Berkeley

Awards & honors

• UCSB Distinguished Teaching Award in the Physical Sciences
• Pacific Coast Business Times Champions in Health Care Award
• National Eye Institute Audacious Goals award
• Frontiers of Vision Research Lecturer at the National Eye In…
• Keynote Lecturer at the Stem Cells World Congress

Similar researchers at University of California, Santa Barbara

• Kenneth S. Kosikh-120
• Jean Carlsonh-48
• Miguel P. Ecksteinh-47