April 2026
Graduate student Lana Rummel receives Canada Graduate Research Scholarship – Master’s program (CGRS-M) titled: “The Cornea: A Transparent Window into Neurodegeneration in Alzheimer’s Disease.”
March 2026
We are pleased to share that the Matsubara Lab has been featured in the “Ask an expert” series by the Vancouver Coastal Health Research Institute. https://www.vchri.ca/stories/2026/03/06/ask-expert-how-can-i-protect-my-vision-if-im-risk-glaucoma
We are pleased to announce that the GCRC UBC Research Excellence Cluster in Vision Science has been renewed.
October 2025
Dr. Joanne Matsubara was a guest speaker and gave a talk at the 4th International Symposium on Retinal and Choroidal Angiogenesis, held in Montreal.
September 2025
Dr. Printha Wijesinghe receives Michael Smith Health Research BC and Canadians For Leading Edge Alzheimer Research (CLEAR) Foundation Research Trainee Award, titled: “Unraveling Apolipoprotein E’s Role in Alzheimer’s Disease: Insights into miRNA & Glial Regulation and Amyloid Pathology“.
August 2025
Congratulations to MRPM students Shivani Tejpal, Ceres Zhou, and Philip Yu on winning Best Presentation Award at the MRPM Student Research Conference for their presentation entitled “Neurodegenerative Features in the Retina Associated with Brain Disease.”
July 2025
Dr. Joanne Matsubara receives Innovation and Translation Research Award from Vancouver Coastal Health Research Institute (VCHRI) titled: “Innovative Drug Delivery by Eye Drop System for Retina”
May 2025
Graduate student Amir Hosseini receives Canada Graduate Research Scholarship – Master’s program (CGRS-M) titled: “Exploring the Role of Extracellular Granzyme B in Pterygium.”
April 2025
Dr. Joanne Matsubara, Dr. David J Granville and Dr. Myeong Jin Ju receive Project Grants from Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) titled: “Extracellular Granzyme B Accumulates with Aging and Promotes Age-related Macular Degeneration (AMD).”
Dr. Daniel Yoo receives Post-doc Training Award from Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) titled: “Preventing abnormal blood vessle growth in AMD by inhibiting Granzyme B activity.”
March 2025
Dr. Sonia Yeung, Dr. Joanne Matsubara and Dr. Myeong Jin Ju receive New Frontiers Research Fund (NFRF) titled: “Corneal imaging for early diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease.”
Dr. Myeong Jin Ju and Dr. Joanne Matsubara receive Project Grants from Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) titled: “Establishment of a novel multi-parametric assessment protocol for identification of distinctive pathological pathways in age-related macular degeneration.”
January 2025
Dr. Joanne Matsubara and Dr. Harshini Chakravarthy receive Research Facilities Support Grant (RFSG) from UBC.
July 2024
Dr. Joanne Matsubara, Dr. G.Y. Robin Hsiung, Dr. Ian MacKenzie and Dr. Printha Wijesinghe receive award from Alzheimer Society of Canada titled: “MicroRNA Biomarkers: Using Tears to Assess Alzheimer s Disease.”
Congratulations to medical student Khola Bilal on receiving the Excellence Award -Second Prize for her oral presentation at the Vision Sciences Research Network 2024 Summer School, titled “Blinded by Granzyme B: A Key Contributor to Age-Related Macular Degeneration.”
May 2024
We are pleased to share that the Matsubara Lab has been featured in the “Behind the Lab Doors” series by the Vancouver Coastal Health Research Institute. https://www.vchri.ca/stories/2024/05/17/behind-lab-doors-eye-care-centre
February 2024
Dr. Joanne Matsubara, Dr. Daniel Yoo and Dr. Manjosh Uppal receive Eye on the Cure award of Fighting Blindness Canada titled: “The Role of Granzyme B in RPE and Choroidal Tissues of the Mouse and Human Eye.”
Dr. Joanne Matsubara receives Internal Awards from University of Nottingham (United Kingdom) titled:
“Drug Delivery for Retinal Diseases by Eye Drop Application.“
November-December 2023
Dr. Daniel Yoo receives Inspiration Award from Eye on the Cure competition hosted by Fighting Blindness Canada
Congrats to Dr. Daniel Yoo for winning Oral presentation 1st place at the UBC Postdoc Research Day. https://x.com/UBCPostdoc/status/1735799115383267768
July 2023
Dr. Printha Wijesinghe and Dr. Joanne Matsubara receive Alzheimer Society Research Program (ASRP) Post-Doctoral Grant/Award titled: “Using tear fluids to assess Alzheimer’s disease.“
April 2023
Dr. Joanne Matsubara and Dr. Myeong Jin Ju receive Multidisciplinary Research Program in Medicine Awards for Summer 2023 Titled: “Neuronal Degeneration in the Retina: Validation by In Vivo Imaging and Ex Vivo Cellular and Molecular Analysis in Mouse Models of Age-related Macular Degeneration (AMD).“
Dr. Joanne Matsubara and Dr. Sonia Yeung receive VCHRI Innovation and Translation Research Award: “Preclinical studies for translation of novel drug for eye diseases.”
Congrats to Manjosh Uppal for winning the Best Presentation by Graduate Student at the annual Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences Research Day(Photo Gallery).
March 2023
Eleanor To, our long-standing Research Assistant retires. Many thanks to Eleanor for her service for the past 28 years! See pic of her farewell dinner with the lab (Photo Gallery).
February 2023
Congrats to Manjosh Uppal for successfully defending his MSc dissertation titled: “The Role of Extracellular Granzyme B and Mast Cell Degranulation in Age-related Macular Degeneration.”
October ,2022
Welcome to Lyden Irani, Directed Studies Research Student.
August, 2022
Welcome to Dr. Daniel Yoo, Post-doctoral Fellow. Dr. Yoo received his PhD (Neurosciences) from Carleton University under the supervision of Dr. Patrice Smith.
June, 2022
Welcome to Dr. Ruanne Lai, appointed as the Research and Knowledge Translation Facilitator for the Vision Research Excellence Cluster.
Welcome to the MRPM 2022 award recipients: Matthew Campbell, Miranda Tsuyuki, and Charles Li. (Students are supervised by Dr. Matsubara and Dr. MJ Ju).
Welcome to the Medd 419 Flex students: Harjot Bhandol, Phoenix Yin, Julie Zhu, Susan Yao, Aki Ediriweera Bandara.
New Frontiers in Research Fund (NFRF) awarded to Dr, Joanne Matsubara and Co-PIs Dr. Myeong Jin Ju and Dr. Blair Leavitt on studies titled: “In vivo imaging for investigating neurodegenerative diseases of the brain and eye.”
April, 2022
The Vision Research Excellence Cluster: From Molecules to Behavior to Society is awarded by UBC VPRI https://research.ubc.ca/vpri-
March, 2022
Multidisciplinary Research Program in Medicine Award for Summer 2022 was awarded to Dr. Matsubara and Dr. Ju on: Characterization of the Neurodegenerative Features in the Retina Associated with Eye and Brain Diseases
January, 2022
Wania Khan joins the lab as a W22 Research Assistant Co-op Student.
September, 2021
Sena Youn begins her MSc degree in the Cell and Development Program.
August, 2021
Darian Cheng joins the lab as a F21 Research Assistant Co-op Student.
May, 2021
Congratulations to Manjosh Uppal for receiving a CIHR Canadian Graduate Scholarship-Master’s Award.
Congratulations to Grace Hu for receiving a Multidisciplinary Research Program in Medicine Award for summer research in 2021 with Dr. Matsubara and Dr. Ju.
Congratulations to Jacob Ng for receiving a Multidisciplinary Research Program in Medicine Award for summer research in 2021 with Dr. Matsubara and Dr. Ju.
Congratulations to Miranda Tsuyuki for receiving a NSERC Undergraduate Student Research Award for summer research in 2021.
Congratulations to Katrina Schwab (UBC Med Class of 2024) for receiving an SSRP for summer research in 2021.
Congratulations to Eden Dubchak (UBC Med Class of 2024) for receiving an SSRP for summer research in 2021 with Drs Matsubara and Yeung.
March, 2021
Dr. Printha Wijesinghe begins Post-doctoral fellowship with the Matsubara Lab. Printha received her PhD in 2020 from University of Maastricht, Netherlands in the field of Translational Neurosciences.
February, 2021
Dr. Jeanne Xi joins the lab as Research Assistant.
September, 2020
Dr. Erika Tian begins Post-doctoral fellowship with the Matsubara Lab. Erika received her MD in 2012 from Zhongshan School of Medicine and her MSc degree in 2020 in Neurosciences UBC.
May, 2020
Congratulations to Miranda Tsuyuki for receiving a 2020 FoM Summer Student Research Project Award.
March, 2020
Congratulations to Yuan (Erika) Tian for her successful oral defence of the Master’s Degree (Neurosciences).
February, 2020
Dr. Gideon Obasanmi begins Post-doctoral fellowship with the Matsubara Lab. Gideon received his PhD in 2017 from Queens University, Belfast Northern Ireland in the field of vascular medicine and ocular immunology.
September, 2019
Dr. Matsubara gives invited presentation on “Visualizing Amyloid Beta in the Alzheimer’s Eye” at the Gained in Translation, Casey Eye Institute, Portland Oregon.
July, 2019
Drs Haishan Zeng, Joanne Matsubara, Sonia Yeung and Harvey Lui receive CIHR project grant titled: Multiphoton photothermolysis based laser therapy for precision treatment of neovascular eye diseases
May, 2019
Dr. Matsubara co-chairs ARVO Minisymposium with Dr. Konstantin Petrukin titled “Repurposing Drugs for the Treatment of Retinal Diseases” at ARVO 2019 in Vancouver, BC.
April, 2019
Congratulations to Alis Xu for winning the “Best Presentation by Medical Student” award (Title: Ocular biomarkers of Alzheimer’s disease: Distribution of amyloid-beta in human AD and non-AD retina) at the Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences Research Day 2019.
September, 2018
Drs. Orson Moritz, Grace Kuo and Joanne Matsubara represented UBC at the 2018 International Society for Eye Research (ISER) in Belfast, Northern Ireland, UK.
April, 2018
Matsubara Lab receive a NSERC Discovery Grant and a NSERC Discovery Accelerator Grant to support the research project, ‘Regulation of inflammasome activity by a classic anti-apoptotic protein, XIAP’.
April, 2018
Dr. Chris Laver receives CIHR Postdoctoral Fellowship for his research project, ‘Treating advanced retinal degeneration-rebuilding multiple co-dependent retinal layers with stem cells’.
March, 2018
Drs. Joanne Matsubara and Chris Laver receive Stem Cell Networks/Disease Team Research Agreement for their project, ‘Treating advanced retinal degeneration-rebuilding multiple co-dependendt retinal layers with stem cells’.
March, 2018
Dr. Matsubara receives a new NSERC Engage Grant, titled Role of granzyme B in the aging retina, in collaboration with viDA Therapeutics Inc.
August 11, 2017
Congratulations to Dr. Chris Laver on his successful oral defence.
July 4, 2017
Congratulations to Dr. Wade Gao on his successful oral defence.
May 15, 2017
Dr. Joanne Matsubara, Dr. Jing Cui, Dr. Max Cynader, Dr. William Jia, and Dr. Ljubomir Kojic receive a new 5-year CIHR Project Grant Award titled An “Inducible” Gene Therapy for Glaucoma: A Novel Approach to Prevent Loss of Vision.
May 7-11, 2017
The Matsubara lab attend the ARVO annual meetings at Baltimore, MD (see photos).
April 18, 2017
Dr. Matsubara receives a new NSERC Discovery Grant titled Regulation of inflammasome activity by a classic anti-apoptotic protein, XIAP.
March 8, 2017
On this year’s International Women’s Day, the Faculty of Medicine interviews leading UBC women faculty members and what sparked their interest to pursue academic research. Read more about Dr. Matsubara’s road to study age-related macular degeneration.
February 3, 2017
Our lab’s graduate student, Wade Gao, presented his PhD work titled “Modern Warfare in Age-related Macular Degeneration: an Inflammasome Story” in the CELLS seminar, a trainee-led monthly presentation series sponsored by the UBC Graduate Program in Cell and Developmental Biology.
November 28, 2016
Dr. Matsubara and Graduate Students Chris Laver and Corey Kelly receive Stem Cell Network Grant “Treating advanced retinal degeneration”. Read more on UBC Faculty of Medicine news and Stem Cell Network announcement.
November 25, 2016
Convocation Ceremony for Dr. Sijia Cao, PhD. Congrats to Sijia as she receives her Ph.D. in the hooding ceremony with President Santa Ono (See pictures).
November 22, 2016
Dr. Matsubara joined President Ono at the Installation Breakfast as he becomes UBC’s 15th President (See picture).
October 11, 2016
Our lab’s graduate student, Wade Gao, is featured in Vancouver Coastal Health Research Insider – People in Profile. Read more.
October 6-7, 2016
Dr. Matsubara presented collaborative lab research at the 2nd Canadian Consortium on Neurodegeneration and Aging (CCNA) in Vancouver, with Dr. Faisal Beg and Dr. Sieun Lee (See pictures).
October 4-5, 2016
Dr. Matsubara led a discussion with public attendees on “Alzheimer’s Disease and the Retina” at the 2nd Canadian Alzheimer’s Disease Basic Research Symposium (CANAD) in Vancouver (See pictures).
September 25-29, 2016
Dr. Matsubara presented lab research and attended gala dinner at the International Society for Eye Research (ISER) 2016 meeting in Tokyo, Japan (See pictures).
August 30, 2016
UBC President Ono tours the Eye Care Centre. Read more.
Photo credit: Kerry Blackadar
July 21, 2016
Congratulations to Dr. Sijia Cao on her successful oral defence (See pictures)!
August 2013
Highlights of the lab research can be seen here: “Focusing on Eye Disease” International Innovation: Healthcare (Research Media, UK pp 36-39, ISSN 2051-8501)
May 5, 2013
XIAP gene therapy research was featured by the Foundation Fighting Blindness (Read more).