Dr. Ratnapriya is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Ophthalmology. She earned her B.Sc. from Delhi University in India and her Ph.D. in Human Genetics from JNCASR, India. She completed a postdoctoral fellowship in Ocular Genomics at the National Eye Institute, where she utilized next-generation sequencing-based, genome-wide methods to understand the genetic basis of Mendelian and complex neurodegenerative diseases leading to vision loss in humans. She spearheaded a study analyzing the transcriptome and genetics of around 500 donor retinas to establish a reference of expression quantitative trait loci (EyeGEx) to close the knowledge gap between GWAS findings and causal variants, genes, and disease mechanisms. Her research program at BCM focuses on elucidating disease circuitry by extracting valuable information from large genomic, transcriptomic, and epigenetic datasets to address translational and bioinformatic challenges related to retinal and macular degenerative diseases. Additionally, she serves as a faculty mentor for the Data2Knowledge lab at Rice University, facilitating interdisciplinary collaboration among students and faculty to leverage data science for impactful research. She has been recognized with prestigious awards including the NEI Scientific Director’s Award, NEI’s Fellows Award for Research Excellence, David R. Hinton MD Scholarship, and Research to Prevent Blindness (RPB) Career Development Award. Her research is presently supported by grants from the BrightFocus New Investigator Award, Research to Prevent Blindness (RPB) Career Development Award, and Foundation Fighting Blindness Individual Investigator Award