Brenna Hefley successfully defends PhD dissertation

Brenna Hefley successfully defended her PhD dissertation, “Extracellular Vesicles: An Eye‑Opening Approach to Keratoconus,” and completed her PhD in Pharmaceutical Sciences and Pharmacotherapy under the mentorship of Dimitrios Karamichos, PhD.

Brenna’s research explored novel biomarkers in tears and saliva to enable earlier, non-invasive detection of keratoconus, a corneal disease that forms the cornea into a cone shape. Her project found that extracellular vesicles could be a potential biomarker for keratoconus, and tear and saliva extracellular vesicles could be used together to provide an accurate, early diagnosis for keratoconus in a clinical setting.

Next up, Brenna plans to continue her journey in academia and one day lead her own lab as a principal investigator.

Well done, Dr. Hefley!