Jianhai Du, PhD

Jianhai Du, PhD is an assistant professor of ophthalmology and of biochemistry at West Virginia University. His research interest is to understand the energy metabolism in the retina and identify the metabolic basis for retinal degenerative diseases, including age-related macular degeneration (AMD) and inherited forms of retinal degeneration. The goal is to use this knowledge to prevent or slow down retinal degeneration in patients.

Dr. Du received his PhD from Peking University in China in 2006, studying cell signaling in cardiac proliferation. He did his postdoctoral research at Medical College of Wisconsin, where he studied post-translational regulation of pterin metabolism in ischemic heart diseases, and later in the lab of James B. Hurley, PhD, at the University of Washington, where he developed stable isotope methodologies to measure metabolic flux in retinal and human RPE cells. Dr. Du was appointed to serve as acting instructor of biochemistry in 2012, and was promoted to research assistant professor of ophthalmology at University of Washington in 2015. In July 2016, he joined the faculty of West Virginia University. Dr. Du’s research has been supported by funding from the American Heart Association, The Knights Templar Eye Foundation, and the National Eye Institute.