I joined the Genetics Graduate Program in 2022 after completing my first two years of medical school as a trainee in the Medical Scientist Training Program. My PhD research at the Institute for Vision Research focuses on understanding and modeling inherited cancer predisposition syndromes that cause tumors to form in the eye. I use both mice and patient-derived stem cells to try to identify the origin cell type that causes hemangioblastomas that occur in von Hippel Lindau disease. I also use the CRISPR-based cell culture models to understand the effect sex steroid hormones may have on disease progression. The other disease I study is Neurofibromatosis Type 1 which can affect vision and whose treatment with MEK-inhibitors also seems to have a visually impairing side effect. Similar to my VHL project, I use patient-derived stem cells differentiated into the cell type we hypothesize is affected by the disease and medication to better understand the molecular underpinnings.

Publications:

Andrew P Voigt, Nathaniel K Mullin, Kelly Mulfaul, Lola P Lozano, Luke A Wiley, Miles J Flamme-Wiese, Erin A Boese, Ian C Han, Todd E Scheetz, Edwin M Stone, Budd A Tucker, Robert F Mullins, Choroidal endothelial and macrophage gene expression in atrophic and neovascular macular degeneration, Human Molecular Genetics, Volume 31, Issue 14, 15 July 2022, Pages 2406–2423, https://doi.org/10.1093/hmg/ddac043

Lola P. Lozano, Budd A. Tucker, Connie J. Hinz, H. Culver Boldt, Elaine M. Binkley; Retinal Capillary Hemangioma Leading to a Diagnosis of von Hippel-Lindau Disease in a Patient with Retinopathy of Prematurity. Case Rep Ophthalmol 12 September 2022; 13 (2): 323–329. https://doi.org/10.1159/000524297

Elaine M. Binkley, Lola P. Lozano, Megan J. Riker, Edward C. Pennington, Budd A. Tucker, Edwin M. Stone, H. Culver Boldt, Robert F. Mullins; Vascular Findings in the Choriocapillaris in a Case of Radiation Retinopathy Secondary to Choroidal Melanoma. Case Rep Ophthalmol 12 September 2022; 13 (2): 589–598. https://doi.org/10.1159/000525568

Nathaniel K. Mullin, Laura R. Bohrer, Andrew P. Voigt, Lola P. Lozano, Allison Wright, Robert F. Mullins, Edwin M. Stone, Budd A. Tucker; Loss of NR2E3 disrupts rod photoreceptor cell maturation causing a fate switch late in human retinal development. bioRxiv 2023.06.30.547279; doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/2023.06.30.547279 

Mullin NK, Bohrer LR, Voigt AP, et al. NR2E3 loss disrupts photoreceptor cell maturation and fate in human organoid models of retinal development. J Clin Invest. 2024;134(11):e173892. Published 2024 Apr 23. doi:10.1172/JCI173892 PMCID: PMC11142732

Farzad Jamshidi, Lola Lozano, Budd Tucker, Jean Andorf, Elliott Sohn, Edwin Stone, Andrew Groves, Yousef Zakharia, H. Culver Boldt, Elaine Binkley; Belzutifan in Individuals with von Hippel-Lindau Retinal Hemangioblastomas: Institutional Experience and Review of the Literature. Ocul Oncol Pathol 2024; https://doi.org/10.1159/000539434

Reyes, Arnulfo & Lewis, Chad & Pham, Chau & Boldt, H. & Lozano, Lola & Syed, Nasreen & Binkley, Elaine. (2024). Pseudo-pigmented choroidal schwannoma with extraocular extension in an elderly patient. American Journal of Ophthalmology Case Reports. 102137. 10.1016/j.ajoc.2024.102137. 

Honors/Awards:

Alumni of Iowa Innovation Leadership Fellows Program (2023 - 2024)

The Knights Templar ARVO Travel Grant (2023)

Carver College of Medicine Trainee Scholar Award (2023)

Graduate College Summer Tuition Scholarship (2023)