Dr. Sandeep Jain is the B.A. Field Professor of Ophthalmology at the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC) Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences and Director of the UIC Dry Eye and ocular Graft-Vs-Host Disease clinic. After receiving his medical degree, Dr. Jain joined the Wilmer Ophthalmological Institute at The Johns Hopkins University as a pre-residency fellow and completed his residency training in Ophthalmology at the Harkness Eye Institute at Columbia University, New York, followed by a subspecialty fellowship in Corneal Diseases at the Massachusetts Eye & Ear Infirmary/Harvard Medical School. Dr. Jain is a clinician-scientist and an academic entrepreneur who has made innovative clinical and basic research discoveries and successfully translated them into therapeutic and diagnostic strategies. He has established a novel academic entrepreneurship program that makes feasible the discovery and development of novel treatments for ocular surface diseases. This program comprises of four components: (i) a highly specialized Ocular Surface Disease clinic for patient care at UIC. Dr. Jain’s clinical practice at UIC focuses on providing care to patients with severe ocular surface diseases; (ii) an advanced translational molecular biology laboratory for uncovering disease mechanisms at UIC; (iii) a UIC-spinout entity (Selagine Inc) for commercializing discoveries, of which Dr. Jain is the founder and President, and (iv) a highly motivated team who seamlessly connect these components.

Dr. Jain’s academic entrepreneurship program has made several clinically relevant contributions: (i) He was the first to discover the presence and pathophysiological relevance of Neutrophil Extracellular Traps (NETs) on the ocular surface of patients with Dry Eye Disease; and (ii) He was the first to discover the presence and pathophysiological relevance of anti-citrullinated protein antibodies (ACPAs) on the ocular surface of patients with Dry Eye Disease. Dr. Jain’s research has been supported by several past and current NEI/NIH grants with him as the Principal Investigator (K08 EY018874, R01EY023656, R01EY024966 and R24EY032440), funding from UIC Chancellor’s Innovation Fund (CIF) Proof of Concept Awards program and Physician Scientist award from Research to Prevent Blindness. His research has also led to several patent grants for development of ophthalmic therapeutics, such as: (i) Heparin eye drops (110058713 B2); (ii) DNase eye drops (US9867871B2); (iii) Brimonidine eye drops (US9877964B2) and (iv) Pooled human immune globulin eye drops (PCT/US19/60566). Dr. Jain is experienced in the regulatory processes required for developing ophthalmic drugs. He was assigned Investigator sponsored IND by FDA for developing DNase eye drops (IND# 118544) and pooled human immune globulin eye drops (IND# 18834). He has served as the Principal Investigator on several ‘investigator-sponsored’ phase I/II clinical trials (clinicaltrials.gov NCT # NCT02193490, NCT02702518 and NCT00606905).