Giulia De Rossi

📢Our new paper is out in @science.org #ScienceTranslationalMedicine 📢 Diabetic retinopathy (DR) is a leading cause of blindness. Patients show vascular changes in their retinas long before vision starts to deteriorate. What triggers these early defects? Could targeting them prevent vision loss? 🧵

UCL Faculty of Brain Sciences

15 Apr

Honoured to be among the recipients of the Academy of Medical Sciences Springboard Award!🎉 My lab will investigate how and why the tiny blood vessels at the back of the eye are lost with age. Thank you @acmedsci.bsky.social @ucl.ac.uk @ucleye.bsky.social - looking forward to starting!!

Academy of Medical Sciences@acmedsci.bsky.social

We’re pleased to share the latest round of our Springboard programme 👏 This year we're supporting 55 early career researchers across the UK whose bold ideas have the potential to save lives, by investing £6.7M in discovery-driven health research 💡 ➡️ bit.ly/4syNGa8

Giulia De Rossi reposted

@uclbrainscience.bsky.social

17 Nov 2025

👩🔬 Meet Dr @giuliaderossi.bsky.social, Senior Research Fellow at @ucleye.bsky.social. She speaks to us about her career highlights and why it's such an exciting time to work in the field of Ophthalmology. 👉 www.ucl.ac.uk/brain-scienc...

Giulia De Rossi reposted

Reinhold Medina

@reinholdmedina.bsky.social

1 Sept 2025

🚀 Join the frontier of discovery! We’re hiring a skilled technician to work with world-leading scientists on cell ageing, stem cells & eye health. Be part of research shaping the future of medicine. www.jobs.ac.uk/job/DOM762/t...

jobs.ac.ukTechnician – Grade 5 at University of LiverpoolFind your next professional services job in higher education on jobs.ac.uk. Apply now for the Technician – Grade 5 role and more.

Giulia De Rossi reposted

Hao Yin

@haoyin.bsky.social

12 Nov 2025

#DiabeticRetinopathy EC LRG1 ⏫Pericyte TGFβ▶️ Hypercontractile & matrix phenotype Lrg1 KO in hyperglycemic🐭 rescues 👉Retinal vascular permeability 👉⬇️Density φ Oxygenation in deep vasc plexus 👉⬇️ERG b-wave amp @giuliaderossi.bsky.social #ScienceTM 2025 www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

Giulia De Rossi reposted

Science Magazine

@science.org

3 Nov 2025

The protein LRG1 acts as a critical player in the initial onset of diabetic retinopathy by disrupting TGF-beta signaling in pericytes and triggering pathological constriction of capillaries, according to new #ScienceTranslationalMedicine work in mice. https://scim.ag/3Jx6NRu

scim.agLeucine-rich α-2-glycoprotein 1 initiates the onset of diabetic retinopathy in miceLRG1-driven microvascular dysfunction triggers early diabetic retinopathy, highlighting a potential therapeutic target.

Giulia De Rossi reposted

Boca Scientific Inc.

@bocascientificinc.bsky.social

24 Oct 2025

A study from @ucleye.bsky.social has identified a key #protein that triggers diabetic retinopathy. The protein LRG1 is the cause of the early damage and targeting this could offer a way to protect vision. #Ophthalmology www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

science.orgLeucine-rich α-2-glycoprotein 1 initiates the onset of diabetic retinopathy in miceLRG1-driven microvascular dysfunction triggers early diabetic retinopathy, highlighting a potential therapeutic target.

Giulia De Rossi reposted

Professor Steve Moss

@stephenemoss.bsky.social

25 Oct 2025

Time for my weekly post, and today I report on some exciting new research from my lab. Especially for any diabetics out there. Important News from the World of Diabetes open.substack.com/pub/stephene...

open.substack.comImportant News from the World of DiabetesA breakthrough in understanding sight loss

Giulia De Rossi reposted

Science X / Phys.org

@sciencex.bsky.social

medicalxpress.comEarly trigger of diabetic eye disease identifiedA team led by UCL scientists has identified a key protein that triggers diabetic retinopathy—a condition caused by high blood sugar damaging the retina's blood vessels and a leading cause of sight loss among working-age adults.

A key protein has been identified as an early trigger of diabetic retinopathy, offering a potential new approach to prevent vision loss in people with diabetes before significant damage occurs. doi.org/g97skc

Giulia De Rossi reposted

UCL News

@uclnews.bsky.social

ucl.ac.ukEarly trigger of diabetic eye disease identifiedA team led by UCL scientists has identified a key protein that triggers diabetic retinopathy – a condition caused by high blood sugar damaging the retina’s blood vessels and a leading cause of sight l...

A team led by Dr @giuliaderossi.bsky.social @ucleye.bsky.social has identified a key protein that triggers diabetic retinopathy – a leading cause of sight loss among working-age adults – in a finding that has the potential to revolutionise how the disease is treated

Giulia De Rossi reposted

UCL Institute of Ophthalmology

@ucleye.bsky.social

A study led by @giuliaderossi.bsky.social has identified a key protein that triggers diabetic retinopathy, a leading cause of blindness. The study, funded by @diabetesuk.bsky.social is published today and featured on the cover of #ScienceTranslationalMedicine. www.ucl.ac.uk/news/2025/oc...

Science Magazine@science.org

The new issue of #ScienceTranslationalMedicine is out now! Mass production of regulatory T cells treats autoimmune disorders in mice, a preclinical study uncovers a promising therapeutic target in diabetic retinopathy, and more. https://scim.ag/3WeFm1R

UCL Translational Research Office

So amazing to see our work on the cover of Science Translational Medicine!!

Science Magazine@science.org

Giulia De Rossi reposted

Science Magazine

@science.org

22 Oct 2025

Giulia De Rossi reposted

@ucltro.bsky.social

@greenwoodjohn.bsky.social

@ucl.ac.uk scientists discover early trigger of diabetic eye disease, paving the way for new sight-saving treatments. The TRO is proud to support research projects like this by working closely with our academics and see the impactful work progressing for patient benefits. Full story: bit.ly/3Lo0vEk

Giulia De Rossi reposted

John Greenwood

22 Oct 2025

Leucine-rich α-2-glycoprotein 1 initiates the onset of diabetic retinopathy in mice | Science Translational Medicine www.science.org/doi/10.1126/... Our latest publication regarding LRG1. Congratulations to Dr De Rossi for her immense contribution. So proud to have made a significant contribution.

Grateful to @greenwoodjohn.bsky.social and @stephenemoss.bsky.social for co-leading this study with such insight and enthusiasm, and to all co-authors for their invaluable contributions.

None of this would have been possible without the generous support of @diabetesuk.bsky.social, #moorfieldseyecharity, @ucltro.bsky.social and @wellcometrust.bsky.social 🙏 Also very grateful to @ucleye.bsky.social for being such an inspiring and supportive place to do science. 🧪

Although these vascular changes appear subtle, computational modelling revealed that they markedly impair retinal oxygenation, providing a mechanistic explanation for the reduced ERG responses seen in diabetic eyes.

Finally — and most importantly — a single intravitreal injection of an LRG1-blocking antibody (15C4) significantly reduced all early vascular defects and restored visual function in diabetic mice. 🎯A potential early therapeutic strategy for preventing vision loss. 👁️

Once secreted, LRG1 acts on pericytes through TGFbeta signalling, driving them toward a more contractile and fibrotic phenotype. We observed increased myosin light chain activation and thickened basement membrane in diabetic wild-type mice, but not in those lacking Lrg1.

This LRG1-driven pericyte dysfunction leads to pathological microvascular remodelling. We see decreased capillary density and diameter. Interestingly, this is also seen in human DR patients at high risk of progressing to the advanced stage (Nicholson et al. JAMA 2019).

We found that LRG1 is increased in retinas from people with diabetes and DR, corroborating several cross-sectional proteomic studies showing correlation between plasma and vitreous LRG1 with the duration of diabetes.

So we moved to diabetic mice to investigate the source and the impact of excessive LRG1 production in diabetic retinas. We found that the inflamed retinal endothelium is the main source of LRG1 and that retinal Lrg1 expression is switched on months earlier than that of Vegf.

We identified leucine-rich α-2-glycoprotein 1 (LRG1) as an initiator of early microvascular dysfunction in the diabetic retina and show that blocking LRG1 in mouse models of diabetes protects them from developing DR. www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

17 Oct 2025

And so it begins! 🎓 Emily’s PhD journey into shedding light on the fibrotic response in wet AMD. Huge thanks to @macularsociety.org for supporting this talented young scientist, and to @amandajcarr.bsky.social for co-supervising! 👏✨