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The phrase “blind as a bat” is often misleading: Not all bats have poor vision. In fact, the eyes of some bats may help ������Ƶ researcher Gianni Castiglione develop new ways to protect human sight.��

Castiglione, assistant professor of biological sciences in the College of Arts and Science and assistant professor of ophthalmology and visual sciences in the School of Medicine, has been named a Pew Biomedical Scholar. The award provides support to advance research that draws on evolutionary adaptations in animals to develop potential therapies for human disease.��

The $300,000, four-year award from The Pew Charitable Trusts will support Castiglione’s research to reverse-engineer the photoprotective adaptations of animals that have evolved��highly sensitive��vision.��

“It’s a stamp of approval from other top scientists in the field,” Castiglione said. “It’s a vote of confidence in our ability to do groundbreaking research.”��

Castiglione’s lab studies how evolutionary changes allow animals to thrive under conditions that would harm humans. The researchers work to��identify��the biological principles behind those evolutionary adaptations and��determine��whether they can be translated into human therapies—essentially borrowing��nature’s best defenses to overcome humans’ natural limitations.��

The funding will help his lab move its proof-of-concept research toward preclinical development and, ultimately, potential��clinical trials.��

Bats may be best known for using echolocation to hunt their prey, but Castiglione said the animals’ relationship with vision is more complex. Some large, highly visual bats, like the large flying fox, are active during the day and roost in trees. This means their light-sensitive eyes are exposed to intense sunlight in places like Australia and Indonesia.��

“In these animals, evolution has figured out how to get the best of both worlds with maximum sensitivity and protection against light damage. Unfortunately, humans��don’t��have that,” Castiglione said. “We’re borrowing from nature to overcome our own natural limitations.”��

The lab discovered that an eye protein from certain animals, called rhodopsin, can protect mouse retinas from damage. Owls and whales also have such potentially protective proteins.��

The long-term goal is to use those evolutionary adaptations to inform new treatments for human eye diseases like age-related macular degeneration, which affects about��20 million people��in the U.S.��

The Pew funding provides resources to advance this research from the lab to the clinic.����

“We have some optimization steps that need to happen before we can consider doing clinical trials,” Castiglione said. “We just filed a provisional application for this technology and have commercial interest, so this is catalyzing our ability to bring the research to market.”��

Learning from evolution’s biological blueprints��

Castiglione began his career studying evolution to better understand the diversity of life.��Over time, he and his colleagues noticed that some animals carried mutations that are similar to those that cause disease in humans, but the animals remained healthy or even benefited.��

“You have this strange dichotomy of adaptation and disease being two sides of the same coin,” Castiglione said.��

That observation led him to wonder if evolutionary adaptations could provide models for solving human health challenges. To try to find out, Castiglione��leverages��his primary appointment in the College of Arts and Science and a secondary appointment in the School of Medicine to collaborate closely with clinical researchers.��

Castiglione compares the process to studying biological blueprints shaped over millions of years. Translating those blueprints into treatments is challenging, but he thinks researchers are up to it.������

“The invaluable part of that is getting these precious blueprints from evolution that we can essentially download from these genomes,” Castiglione said. Those solutions, he added, could otherwise take researchers many years and substantial resources to develop, if they could be developed at all.��

The approach also underpins research supported by Castiglione’s Keck Foundation award from last year, which explores genetic adaptations associated with birds’ long lifespans and their potential relevance to human aging.��

His lab is also developing machine learning and artificial intelligence tools that could scan the genomes of many species to��identify��adaptations with potential therapeutic value.��

Castiglione said finding those adaptations without AI is highly specialized and labor intensive. With automated tools, researchers could��identify��promising adaptations much more quickly and systematically.��

“I think that’s where the future lies,” Castiglione said. “We’re��currently very artisanal, so to speak, and��we need to scale it up. I think the artificial intelligence side of things will help us with that.”��

Support from ������Ƶ Development and Support��

������Ƶ Development and Support, within the Office of the Vice Provost for ������Ƶ and Innovation, supported Castiglione’s Pew application and��assisted��with his successful Keck Foundation proposal.��

Castiglione described RDS as a team of trusted colleagues who can evaluate a proposal before it reaches external reviewers. As Ph.D.-trained scientists working across disciplines, RDS staff members help investigators��identify��unclear concepts, gaps in an argument and areas where an application may not effectively communicate the research’s significance.��

RDS also��assists��faculty with proposal requirements, including formatting, budgets, submission��portals��and sponsor criteria.��

“They’ve been a tremendous asset, and they’re just great people to work with,” Castiglione said. “I can say with confidence that I don’t think I would have gotten the Keck or the Pew without their help because I think people would have missed what I was trying to say.”��