Iván Coto Hernández, PhD, Instructor in the Surgical Photonics and Engineering Lab (SPEL) at Mass Eye and Ear, recently earned a K25 Mentored Quantitative Research Development Award from the National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering (NIBIB).
The NIBIB, part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), awards K25 grants to research scientists who aim to develop the research skills necessary for an independent investigator. Dr. Hernández’s grant is worth $430,044 and will support a project he undertakes with the mentorship of internationally-recognized experts from Mass General Brigham and Boston University.
Dr. Hernández, who also serves as an Instructor of Otolaryngology–Head and Neck Surgery at Harvard Medical School, has focused years of research on the development of novel techniques for imaging the peripheral nerve. He is particularly interested in employing super-resolution microscopy techniques to advance the study of peripheral nerve regeneration.
His project under the K25 grant will develop two efficient super-resolution microscopy techniques for studying intracellular trafficking of single adeno-associated viral (AAV) vector particles within neuron and Schwann cells in mouse models. The project will aim to advance how viral vector gene delivery is understood.