Marcus Toral, MD, PhD

Hometown:
Libertyville, Illinois

Education:
Undergraduate education: Miami University of Ohio
Medical School: University of Iowa Carver College of Medicine
Internship: University of Washington, Internal Medicine, 2022

Personal Interests:
Hiking and the outdoors, travel, reading, writing, sports and athletics, music, video games

 

Dr. Toral was born and raised in Libertyville, Illinois, along with his two younger siblings. He attended Miami University of Ohio for his undergraduate education, where he studied Zoology and Neuroscience, solidifying his passion for medicine and academic research. Immediately after graduation, he was accepted into the NIH Medical Scientist Training Program (M.D., Ph.D.) at the University of Iowa Carver College of Medicine. During the Ph.D. portion of his training, Dr. Toral moved with his thesis lab to Stanford University in California, where he completed the final years of his scientific training before returning to Iowa City to complete his remaining M.D. coursework. During his combined doctoral training, he further refined his passion for medicine and research to focus on ophthalmology. His work interests include the treatment of intraocular inflammation and retinal disease, as well as using research to improve molecular diagnostics and therapeutics for eye disease. Apart from work, Dr. Toral enjoys hiking and the outdoors, travel, reading, writing, sports and athletics, music, and video games.

Inherited eye disease, uveitis, medical and surgical correction of retinal disease

Understanding and controlling intraocular inflammation, applying next-generation genetic sequencing technologies to improve medical diagnostics and therapeutics, & genetic editing for treatment of inherited disease 

Toral MA, Charlesworth CT, Ng B, Chemudupati T, Homma S, Nakauchi H, Bassuk AG, Porteus MH, Mahajan VB. Investigation of Cas9 antibodies in the human eye. Nature Communications. 2022; 13(1):1053. PubMed PMID: 35217666.

Toral MA*, Cani AK*, Balikov DA*, Betz BL, Hu K, Liu C, Prifti MV, Chinnaiyan AM, Tomlins SA, Mahajan VB, Rao RC. Genomic analysis of a case of bilateral T cell vitreoretinal lymphoma (VRL) reveals copy number alterations. International Journal of Molecular Sciences. 2021; 22(11): 6099. PMID: 34198843. (*co-first authors).

Velez, G, Nguyen HV, Chumudupati T, Ludwig CA, Toral M, Reddy S, Mruthyunjaya P, Mahajan VB. Liquid biopsy proteomics of uveal melanoma reveals biomarkers associated with metastatic risk. Molecular Cancer. 2021; 20(1): 39. PMID: 33627107.

Toral MA, Charlesworth CT, Ng B, Chemudupati T, Homma S, Nakauchi H, Bassuk AG, Porteus MH, Mahajan VB. Investigation of Cas9 antibodies in the human eye. Nature Communications. 2022 Feb 25;13(1):1053. doi: 10.1038/s41467-022-28674-1. PubMed PMID: 35217666.

Toral MA*, Cani AK*, Balikov DA*, Betz BL, Hu K, Liu C, Prifti MV, Chinnaiyan AM, Tomlins SA, Mahajan VB, Rao RC. Genomic analysis of a case of bilateral T cell vitreoretinal lymphoma (VRL) reveals copy number alterations. International Journal of Molecular Science. 2021; 22(11): 6099. PMID: 34198843. (*co-first authors).

Velez, G, Nguyen HV, Chumudupati T, Ludwig CA, Toral M, Reddy S, Mruthyunjaya P, Mahajan VB. Liquid biopsy proteomics of uveal melanoma reveals biomarkers associated with metastatic risk. Molecular Cancer. 2021; 20(1): 39. PMID: 33627107.

Li AS, Velez G, Darbro B, Toral MA, Yang J, Tsang SH, Ferguson PJ, Folk JC, Bassuk AG, Mahajan VB. Whole-Exome Sequencing of Patients with Posterior Segment Uveitis. American Journal of Ophthalmology. 2021; 221: 246-259. PMID: 32707200.

Toral MA*, Cabral T*, Velez G, DiCarlo JE, Gore AM, Mahajan M, Tsang SH, Bassuk AG, Mahajan VB Dissection of Human Retina and RPE-Choroid for Proteomic Analysis. Journal of Visualized Experiments (JoVE). 2017. PMID: 29155757. (*co-first authors).

Toral MA, Velez G, Boudreault K, Schaefer KA, Xu Y, Saffra N, Bassuk AG, Tsang SH, Mahajan VB. Structural modeling of a novel SLC38A8 mutation that causes foveal hypoplasia. Molecular Genetics & Genomic Medicine. 2017; 5(3): 202-209. PMID: 28546991.

Roybal CN, Velez G, Toral MA, Tsang SH, Bassuk AG, Mahajan VB. Personalized Proteomics in Proliferative Vitreoretinopathy Implicate Hematopoietic Cell Recruitment and mTOR as a Therapeutic Target. American Journal of Ophthalmology. 2017: 30521-4. PMID: 29246578.

Toral M, Haugsdal J, Wall M. Internuclear Ophthalmoplegia. EyeRounds.org. Posted June 8, 2017; Available from: http://EyeRounds.org/cases/252-internuclear-ophthalmoplegia.htm.

Schaefer KA, Toral MA, Velez G, Cox AJ, Baker SA, Borcherding NC, Colgan DF, Bondada V, Mashburn CB, Yu C, Geddes JW, Tsang SH, Bassuk AG, Mahajan VB. Calpain-5 Expression in the Retina Localizes to Photoreceptor Synapses. Investigative Ophthalmology & Visual Sciences. 2016; 57 (6): 2509-21. PMID: 27152965.

Banerjee S, Toral M, Siefert M, Conway D, Dorr M, Fernandes J. dHb9 expressing larval motor neurons persist through metamorphosis to innervate adult-specific muscle targets and function in Drosophila eclosion. Developmental Neurobiology. 2016; 76 (12): 1387-1416. PMID: 27168166.

Phillips DL, Toral M, Alward WLM. Chandler Syndrome: A subtle presentation. EyeRounds.org. Posted Feb 9, 2015; Available from: http://EyeRounds.org/cases/203-chandlers.htm.