Dr Sahiner is a polymer scientist with experience in the creation of innovative chemical products and an extensive publication history. Following his PhD in Tulane University (where he worked with Dr Ayyala in 2004), he joined the Canakkale Onsekiz Mart University, Turkey where he became a tenured professor and established a polymer science laboratory. In 2020, he joined the USF Eye Institute, University of South Florida, Tampa, FL as a research professor, where he collaborated with Dr Ayyala in establishing a Polymer Science laboratory to help create the next generation of slow-release drug delivery systems. Together, this team has created a Porous Hyaluronic Acid particle that is being used to create slow-release antibiotic and anti-fungal medications to treat eye infections, which is currently in animal testing. Their laboratory is also working on creating a new kind of dry eye product and a slow release Mitomycin C to treat postoperative fibrosis and certain cancers.

Ramesh S. Ayyala, MD, FRCS, FRCOphth, is an internationally renowned glaucoma surgeon, educator, entrepreneur, and is the James P. and Heather Gills Professor of Ophthalmology and chairperson of the USF Health Morsani College of Medicine (MCOM) Department of Ophthalmology. He rebuilt Tulane’s Ophthalmology program following Hurricane Katrina and help build Anand Eye Institute, a tertiary care teaching and research eye institute in Hyderabad, India, where he serves as Chairman. Dr. Ayyala also established ElutiMed, a biotechnology company bringing slow-release glaucoma products to the marketplace with two products in the final phases of development.