Researcher

Dr Gauri Shankar Shrestha

My Expertise

tear metabolomics, corneal infection, cell culture, tear protein assay, orthoptics, vision, refraction, ocular diagnostics, contact lenses

Keywords

bacterial infections

binocular vision/stereopsis vergence

Fields of Research (FoR)

Optometry and Ophthalmology

Biography

Associate Lecturer, School of Optometry and Vision Science, UNSW Sydney

Gauri was awarded his PhD from the University of New South Wales in Sydney Australia for his research on the characterisation of tear metabolite expression in bacterial keratitis with a highly prestigious scientia PhD scholarship.

Gauri is an academic and clinical scientist, with experience in the higher education industry and hospital optometry practice. Gauri has...view more

Associate Lecturer, School of Optometry and Vision Science, UNSW Sydney

Gauri was awarded his PhD from the University of New South Wales in Sydney Australia for his research on the characterisation of tear metabolite expression in bacterial keratitis with a highly prestigious scientia PhD scholarship.

Gauri is an academic and clinical scientist, with experience in the higher education industry and hospital optometry practice. Gauri has expertise in clinical and laboratory research, particularly in tear metabolomics, cell culture and a wide range of anterior and posterior segment eye diseases, including cornea, glaucoma, keratoconus, and diabetic retinopathy.

Gauri has a research interest in investigating tear metabolite biomarkers associated with microbial keratitis and gene expression – immunometabolite association analysis in dry eye disease.

My Grants

2021 - The PluS Alliance Seed Collaborative Grant, UNSW Sydney, Australia (Co-investigator)

2016 - The Small Research Development and Innovation Grant, University Grants Commission, Nepal (PI)

2013 – Research Fellowship, World Council of Optometry and World Optometry Foundation, USA (PI)

2009 - The University Research Grant, Institute of Medicine, Nepal (Co-investigator)

My Qualifications

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), UNSW Sydney, Australia, 2022

Associate Fellow of Higher Education Academy (AFHEA), 2021

Epidemiology and Biostatistics for Public Health, UNSW Sydney Australia, 2021

Fellow of the American Academy of Optometry (FAAO), 2020

Master of Optometry (M.Optom), Bharati Vidyapeeth University, India, 2007

Bachelor of Optometry (B.Optom), Institute of Medicine, Nepal, 2002

My Awards

2022 The AAO 2022 Student Travel Award, San Diago, USA

The ISCLR 2022 Student grant, Porto, Portugal

HDR Completion Scholarship, UNSW Sydney, Australia

2021 UNSW Medicine and Health Support Scholarship, UNSW Sydney, Australia

International Travel Grant, ARVO 2021 Annual Meeting (virtual)

2020 Conference Registration Support, Gordon Research Conference, Italy

2018-2022 The Scientia PhD Scholarship, UNSW Sydney, Australia

2005, 2011, 2013 Travel Grants, Asia Pacific Council of Optometry, Japan, Singapore and S. Korea, respectively

2012 Travel Grant, Advancing Optometry Worldwide, World Council of Optometry, USA

My Research Activities

Cornea

This research focuses on the identification of tear metabolite biomarkers in microbial keratitis and mapping the disease pathway to understand the pathogenesis of microbial keratitis. Microbial keratitis is the fifth leading cause of blindness worldwide. Determination of the association between bacterial virulence characteristics, host immune responses measured by inflammatory mediators and expression of metabolites may uncover the key regulatory networks associated with microbial keratitis, which may serve as useful diagnostic and prognostic biomarkers.

Dry eye disease (DED)

Dry eye disease is a multi-factorial ocular surface disease, which develops as a result of the breakdown of immune homeostasis at the ocular surface. This research aims to identify the antigens involved with the up-regulation of certain inflammatory markers which are responsible for mediating severe inflammation in DED. This study includes a gene expression – immunometabolite association analysis particularly focusing on tear steroid and lipid metabolites to identify the antigens modulating the immune response for DED pathogenesis.