Ester Reina-Torres, PhD

Ester Reina-Torres, PhD, is a research associate at Imperial College London (UK). Ester graduated in Biotechnology from the University of Vic (Barcelona, Spain) and attended to University of Bristol (UK) for an MSc in Biomedical Sciences Research, where she did the master project about the role of VEGF delivered by micro-vesicles in Age-related Macular Degeneration. Ester joined the department of Bioengineering at Imperial College London in 2012 to do her PhD at Prof. Overby’s lab. Her project studied how targeting Schlemm’s canal endothelium can modulate aqueous humour outflow resistance. She mostly focused on the role of VEGF on outflow facility regulation and how tight junction inhibition can reduce outflow resistance. Furthermore, she participated in the development of iPerfusion, used to measure outflow resistance in mice. After graduating in 2016, Ester spent a year at Trinity College Dublin (Dept. of genetics) in Prof. Humphries’ lab, studying how tight junction inhibition could improve outflow in the glucocorticoid induced ocular hypertension mouse model. Then, Ester went back to Darryl Overby’s lab, where she is investigating physiological aspects that regulate outflow resistance, focusing on nitric oxide, metabolism, and segmental outflow. Ester’s work has been published in 12 peer-reviewed papers.