Medical College of Georgia
Department of Ophthalmology
Medical College of Georgia
Department of Center for Biotechnology and Genomic Medicine
Medical College of Georgia
Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology
Administration
Department of The Graduate School
Dr. Shruti Sharma is a distinguished researcher at Augusta University, where she is an Associate Professor in the Medical College of Georgia. Her work focuses on the molecular mechanisms of ocular disorders, particularly diabetic retinopathy and dry eye disease, using a combination of in vitro and in vivo studies.
Vision science, Dry eye disease, Diabetic retinopathy.
The Shruti Sharma Lab investigates the role of inflammation-induced endothelial dysfunction in diabetic retinopathy (DR). The lab has identified interleukin-6 (IL-6) trans-signaling as a novel therapeutic target and demonstrated that the IL-6 inhibitor sgp130Fc (Olamkicept) effectively reduces inflammation, oxidative stress, and retinal vascular damage in DR. This has led to an expanded focus on the roles of Müller glial cells, pericytes, and VEGF signaling in retinal diseases including the use of oxygen-induced retinopathy animal models to study Müller cell-mediated IL-6 signaling in ischemic angiogenesis. The Sharma lab is also exploring human tear protein biomarkers and conducting in-vitro studies using osmoprotectants to identify new therapeutic targets for dry eye disease (DED), with the overarching goal of developing therapies that preserve retinal and ocular surface health.
