Alireza Salimi is driven by a simple but powerful goal: helping scientific discoveries move beyond the laboratory and ultimately improve patients’ lives.

A Ph.D. candidate in the Molecular Medicine Program, Alireza conducts his research in the University of Iowa Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences in the laboratory of Markus H. Kuehn, PhD, professor of ophthalmology and visual sciences and principal investigator of the Glaucoma Cell Biology Laboratory.

His research focuses on developing regenerative approaches to treat glaucoma and other vision-threatening diseases. In primary open-angle glaucoma, dysfunction of the trabecular meshwork—the tissue responsible for regulating fluid drainage from the eye—can lead to elevated intraocular pressure and, ultimately, irreversible optic nerve damage.

Rather than simply focusing on lowering eye pressure, Alireza is investigating strategies aimed at restoring trabecular meshwork function. His work includes exploring the use of magnetic fields to direct stem cells to the trabecular meshwork, with the goal of restoring aqueous humor outflow and normalizing intraocular pressure. He is also studying interactions between induced pluripotent stem cell-derived and primary human trabecular meshwork cells to better understand the cellular and molecular changes associated with these regenerative approaches.

Alireza’s research has been presented at the 2025 Midwest Eye Research Symposium and the 2026 Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology (ARVO) Annual Meeting. His broader scientific background includes stem cell therapy, RNA nanotechnology, bioinformatics, and molecular biology.

As an Iowa Innovation Leadership Fellow, Alireza will have the opportunity to develop another critical dimension of his translational research: learning how promising discoveries can move from the laboratory through intellectual property protection, regulatory pathways, and commercialization to ultimately reach patients.

For Alireza, this opportunity represents an important step toward his long-term goal of transforming advances in regenerative medicine into therapies that can preserve vision and improve outcomes for patients with glaucoma and other eye diseases.

The UI Office of Innovation recognized Alireza’s passion for ensuring that scientific discoveries extend beyond the laboratory to improve patients’ lives. Through the fellowship, he will build on his scientific training while developing the leadership and innovation skills needed to bridge research, therapeutic development, and patient care.

Please join us in congratulating Alireza on this well-deserved recognition and exciting opportunity!