Ethan A. Rossi, PhD

  • Assistant Professor of Ophthalmology
  • University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine

A Conversation With Dr. Rossi

Dr. Rossi's research is focused on developing and deploying advanced ophthalmic imaging tools to study the normal and diseased retina. He has been working with high resolution imaging technologies with adaptive optics for over a decade and have all the skills, training, and expertise required to carry out this research. Rossi's Ph.D. training in the laboratory of Austin Roorda, the inventor of adaptive optics scanning laser ophthalmoscopy, was focused on using adaptive optics to probe the limits of human vision in both normal and diseased eyes. His current research continues the development of near infrared autofluorescence and expanded his investigations of age-related macular degeneration. This includes an international study in collaboration with Dr. José-Alain Sahel, the Chairman of the Department of Ophthalmology, and collaborators in France on how genetics shapes the cellular level retinal phenotype in AMD. This work has generated a large AMD patient cohort (n = 85) in Pittsburgh and provided foundational knowledge for the future work I describe in this proposal. I am uniquely suited to lead and carry out the innovative work, which will be facilitated by the strongly collaborative research environment at the University of Pittsburgh and the excellent team that Rossi leads around this project. 

 

Academic Affiliation

Current

Assistant Professor, Department of Ophthalmology, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine
Assistant Professor, Department of Bioengineering, University of Pittsburgh Swanson School of Engineering
Member Faculty, McGowan Institute for Regenerative Medicine
Member Faculty, Center for Neuroscience at the University of Pittsburgh
Member Faculty, Graduate Faculty
Affiliated Faculty, Physician-Scientist Training Program
 

Previous

2013-2016 Research Associate. Advanced Retinal Imaging Alliance, University of Rochester, Rochester, NY
2010-2012 Postdoctoral Fellow, Center for Visual Science, University of Rochester, Rochester, NY

Education & Training

  • 2009 – PhD, Vision Science, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, CA
  • 2001 – BA, Brain & Cognitive Sciences, University of Rochester, Rochester, NY

Representative Publications

  • Rui Y, Lee DMW, Zhang M, Snyder VC, Gofas-Salas E, Mecê P, Raghuraman R, Yadav S, Tiruveedhula P, Sahel JA, Grieve K, Errera MH, & Rossi EA. Label-free in vivo imaging of inflammation at the level of single cells in the living human eye, Ophthalmology Science. 2024; Jan 20. DOI: 10.1016/j.xops.2024.100475.
  • Gofas-Salas E, Rui Y, Mece P, Zhang M, Snyder VC, Vienola KV, Lee D, Sahel JA, Grieve K & Rossi EA. Design of a radial multi-offset detection pattern for in vivo phase contrast imaging of the inner retina in humans. Biomedical Optics Express. 2022; 13(1): 117-132. DOI: 10.1364/BOE.441808. PMID: 35154858.
  • Leonard B, Kontos A, Marchetti GF, Zhang M, Eagle SR, Reecher HM, Bensinger E, Snyder V, Holland CL, Sheehy CK, & Rossi EA. Fixational eye movements following concussion. Journal of Vision. 2021; 21(13):11,1–14. DOI: 10.1167/jov.21.13.11. PMID: 34940825.
  • Rossi EA, Norberg N, Eandi CM, Chaumette C, Kapoor S, Le L, Snyder VC, Martel J, Gautier J, Gocho K, Dansingani KK, Chhablani J, Arleo A, Mrejen S, Sahel JA, Grieve K, & Paques M. A new method for visualizing drusen and their progression in flood-illumination adaptive optics ophthalmoscopy. Translational Vision Science & Technology. 2021; 10(14):19. DOI:10.1167/tvst.10.14.19. PMID: 34928325.
  • Zhang M, Gofas-Salas E, Leonard BT, Rui Y, Snyder VC, Reecher HM, Mecê P, and Rossi EA. Strip-based digital image registration for distortion minimization and robust eye motion measurement from scanned ophthalmic imaging systems. Biomedical Optics Express. 2021; 12: 2353-2372. DOI: 10.1364/BOE.418070. PMID: 33996234.
  • Vienola K, Zhang M, Snyder VC, Sahel JA, Dansingani KK, & Rossi EA. Microstructure of the retinal pigment epithelium near-infrared autofluorescence in healthy young eyes and in patients with AMD. Scientific Reports. 2020; 10:9561. DOI:10.1038/s41598-020-66581-x. PMID: 32533046.
  • Song H, Rossi EA, Yang Q, Granger CE, Latchney LR, Chung MM. High-Resolution Adaptive Optics in Vivo Autofluorescence Imaging in Stargardt Disease. JAMA Ophthalmology. 2019; 137(3):603-609. DOI: 10.1001/jamaophthalmol.2019.0299. PMID: 30896765.
  • Grieve K, Gofas-Salas E, Ferguson RD, Sahel JA, Paques M, & Rossi EA. In vivo near-infrared autofluorescence imaging of retinal pigment epithelial cells with 757 nm excitation. Biomedical Optics Express. 2018; 9(12):5946-5961. DOI: 10.1364/BOE.9.005946. PMID: 31065405.
  • Granger CE, Yang Q, Song H, Saito K, Nozato K, Latchney LR, Leonard BT, Chung MM, Williams DR, & Rossi EA. Human retinal pigment epithelium: in vivo cell morphometry, multi-spectral autofluorescence, and relationship to cone mosaic. Investigative Ophthalmology and Visual Science. Dec 2018; 59:5705-5716. DOI: 10.1167/iovs.18-24677. PMID: 30513531.
  • Rossi EA, Granger CE, Sharma R, Yang Q, Saito K, Schwarz C, Walters S, Nozato K, Zhang J, Kawakami T, Fischer W, Latchney LR, Hunter JJ, Chung MM, Williams DR. Imaging individual neurons in the retinal ganglion cell layer of the living eye. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. 2017; 114(3):586-591; DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1613445114. PMID: 28049835.
  • Zhang J, Yang Q, Saito K, Nozato K, Roorda A, Williams DR, Rossi EA. An adaptive optics imaging system designed for clinical use. Biomedical Optics Express. 2015 Jun 1;6(6):2120. DOI: 10.1364/BOE.6.002120. PMID: 26114033.
  • Rangel-Fonseca P, Gómez-Vieyra A, Malacara-Hernández D, Wilson MC, Williams DR, Rossi EA. Automated segmentation of retinal pigment epithelium cells in fluorescence adaptive optics images. Journal of the Optical Society of America A. 2013 Nov 21;30(12):2595. DOI: 10.1364/JOSAA.30.002595. PMID: 24323021.
  • Rossi EA, Rangel-Fonseca P, Parkins K, Fischer W, Latchney LR, Folwell MA, Williams DR, Dubra A, Chung MM. In vivo imaging of retinal pigment epithelium cells in age related macular degeneration. Biomedical Optics Express. 2013 Nov 1;4(11):2527–39. DOI: 10.1364/BOE.4.002527. PMID: 24298413.
  • Rossi EA, Roorda A. The relationship between visual resolution and cone spacing in the human fovea. Nature Neuroscience. 2010 Feb;13(2):156–7. DOI: 10.1038/nn.2465. PMID: 20023654.


Research Interest Summary

Advanced Ophthalmic Imaging Laboratory

Research Interests

  • Adaptive optics ophthalmoscopy
  • Age-related macular degeneration
  • Glaucoma
  • Image processing
  • Eye movements
  • Visual performance

Lab Personnel

Valerie Snyder  (vcs12@pitt.edu) – Ophthalmic Imaging Specialist
Min Zhang, PhD (miz62@pitt.edu) – Software Developer
Daniel Lee (dal208@pitt.edu) – Graduate Student 
Robert Draham (rld76@pitt.edu) – Postdoctoral Fellow
Shruti Balaji (shruti.balaji@pitt.edu) – Research Technician

 

Research Grants

Current:

National Eye Institute (RO1EY030517)

Foundation Fighting Blindness (PPA-0819-0772-INSERM)

National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (R44NS095090)

Henry L. Hillman Foundation - Eye & Ear Foundation of Pittsburgh

Previous:

Clinical & Translational Science Institute WORDOUT (I0020952)

BrightFocus Foundation (G2017082)

Edward N. & Della L. Thome Memorial Foundation

CV