Dr. Marcus Fruttiger is vascular biologist working at the UCL Institute of Ophthalmology, located in London, United Kingdom. During the last 10 years, he has been using mouse genetics to study how specific genes control the growth of blood vessels in the retina of mice. Knowledge gained from such basic research is important because abnormal blood vessel growth in the retina is a pathological feature in numerous blinding diseases. Although, in most cases it is not possible to study human diseases directly in mice, it is possible to isolate specific aspects of a particular disease and to investigate the underlying biological processes in model systems. Dr. Fruttiger’s lab is currently combining mouse genetic experiments and human tissue analysis to study mechanisms underlying diseases of the retinal vasculature. He is particularly interested in interactions between blood vessels and the non-vascular components of the retina such as glial cells, neurons and the retinal pigment epithelium, which are known to play important roles in controlling vessel behaviour in the retina.