Glen Prusky

Glen Prusky, Ph.D. is a Professor in the Department of Physiology and Biophysics at Weill Cornell Medicine and serves as Lab Director of the Laboratory for Visual Disease and Therapy at the Burke Neurological Institute. He is also the Director of the Center for Vision Repair at Burke Neurological Institute.

Dr. Prusky obtained his B.Sc. at the University of Lethbridge in 1985, and his M.Sc. and Ph.D. from Dalhousie University. Following postdoctoral training at Yale University from 1990-1992, he secured a faculty position at the University of Lethbridge in 1993, where he was promoted to Full Professor in 2005. He was recruited to the Burke Medical Research Institute and Weill Cornell Medical College in 2007.

Dr. Prusky's research focuses on understanding adaptive change in the nervous system and applying these insights to treat visual dysfunction in humans. His laboratory utilizes the rodent visual system as an experimental model with anatomical, biochemical, electrophysiological, and behavioral methods. One research stream focuses on developing cell-based retinal transplantation procedures for age-related macular degeneration and pioneering mitochondria-targeting therapeutics for diabetic retinopathy and aging. Another stream aims to design experience-based strategies to improve vision in developmental diseases like amblyopia or as a result of early brain injury. His work has been translated into human clinical practice at Blythedale Children's Hospital through the invention of the OptokineSys device, which enables measurement of vision and provision of therapeutic visual experience in children with limited verbal and cognitive ability.

His recent publications reveal trends in visual neuroscience, particularly in developing innovative methods for visual assessment and therapy. His work spans from basic research on retinal function to translational applications for visual disorders, with a strong emphasis on developing technologies that can be used with non-verbal patients.

• Retinoschisin deficiency induces persistent aberrant waves of activity affecting neuroglial signaling in the retina (2022)
• Treatment of age-related visual impairment with a mitochondrial-acting peptide (2022)
• Tracking-based interactive assessment of saccades, pursuits, visual field, and contrast sensitivity in children with brain injury (2021)
• A neuroscientist's sound toolkit (2021)
• Gradiate: A radial sweep approach to measuring detailed contrast sensitivity functions from eye movements (2020)
• Shady: a Software Engine for Real-Time Visual Stimulus Manipulation (2019)

Dr. Prusky has mentored numerous students and postdoctoral fellows who have gone on to establish their own research careers. His laboratory collaborates with several institutions including Blythedale Children's Hospital, Johns Hopkins University, University of British Columbia, and receives funding from the National Institutes of Health (NIH).

His laboratory develops health-tech devices for visual assessment and therapy, with a focus on gamification, intensive behavioral training, and telemedicine approaches to improve vision in patients with neurological conditions.