Onoclea Communications

About

Lesley Earl

Onoclea Communications is owned by Lesley Earl, Ph.D.

Lesley formed Onoclea Communications in 2025 after spending 15 years at the National Institutes of Health as a scientist-turned-communicator and accessibility professional.

Prior to starting the company, Lesley worked at the National Eye Institute (NEI), part of the National Institutes of Health, sharing vision science and eye health information with the public. As accessibility program manager and certified Trusted Tester, she also helped the agency communicate with key stakeholder communities by improving the accessibility of digital content, including websites, videos, documents, and more.

Before working at NEI, Lesley was a science writer at the National Cancer Institute, managing websites, social media, and scientific publications for an electron microscopy laboratory and several related projects.

Lesley is a Medical Writer Certified (MWC) and a Certified Trusted Tester (V5).

She earned her bachelor’s degree in Biology at Haverford College, Pennsylvania, and her Ph.D. in Cellular and Molecular Pathology from the University of California, Los Angeles. She completed a postdoctoral fellowship at the National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research.

Learn more about services at Onoclea Communications

Examples

Health & Science

Clinical Research

  1. Treatment pause leads to high rate of relapse in children with a type of autoimmune eye inflammation (NEI News, 2025)
  2. Two common surgeries equally effective for treating blinding condition of the eyelid (NIH News, 2024)
  3. A type of ‘step therapy’ is an effective strategy for diabetic eye disease (NIH News, 2022)
  4. Vision improvement is long-lasting with treatment for blinding blood vessel condition (NIH News, 2022)
  5. Diet may help preserve cognitive function (NIH News, 2020)
  6. Nitisinone increases melanin in people with albinism (NIH News, 2019)

Translational Research

  1. NIH researchers develop eye drops that slow vision loss in animals (NIH News, 2025)
  2. Extremely rare gene variants point to a potential cause of age-related macular degeneration (NIH News, 2023)
  3. NIH researchers develop gene therapy for rare ciliopathy (NIH News, 2022)

Basic Science & Technology Development

  1. NIH researchers discover a new face-detecting brain circuit (NIH News, 2024)
  2. NIH researchers decode retinal circuits for circadian rhythm, pupillary light response (NIH News, 2022)
  3. NIH-funded modern ‘white cane’ brings navigation assistance to the 21st century (NIH News, 2021)
  4. Imaging method reveals long-lived patterns in cells of the eye (NIH News, 2019)

Profiles, Features and Blogs

  1. Small creatures teach big lessons (NEI News, 2023)
  2. NEI Joins Nigeria’s National Eye Centre in Research Partnership (NIH Record, 2021)
  3. Building a Partnership: Rwandan Physician Will Bring Home Lessons Learned at NIH (NIH Catalyst, 2017)
  4. Biophysics on World AIDS Day (Biophysical Society Blog, 2015)
  5. Red, Itchy Rash? Dermatitis Comes in Many Forms (NIH News in Health, 2012)

Video & Multimedia

  1. Vision and the Brain: More than Meets the Eye – Activity video for kids about how the brain processes visual information. https://youtu.be/h1r5qj_E5Bc
  2. Movement versus sight in the brain’s visual cortex – Video showing how the brain processes sight as we move. https://youtu.be/TBxEmli4Q8w
  3. Extremely rare gene variants and AMD – Video discussing the role of the Membrane Attack Complex in AMD. https://youtu.be/tZtOmLyOwQ4
  4. How multifocal contact lenses can help myopia – Video showing the BLINK contact lens. https://youtu.be/p-skBMkmRT4
  5. Imaging methods in eye cells using ICG – Video explaining a new method to visualize individual retinal cells in the living human eye. https://youtu.be/8HzYgT0opfI

Select Scientific Publications

  1. Earl LA, Falconieri V, and Subramaniam S. (2018) Microbiology catches the cryo-EM bug. Curr Opin Microbiol. 43:199-207. doi: 10.1016/j.mib.2018.02.012
  2. Earl LA, Falconieri V, Milne JLS, and Subramaniam S. (2017) Cryo-EM: Beyond the microscope. Curr. Opin. Struct. Biol. 46:71-78. doi: 10.1016/j.sbi.2017.06.002
  3. Earl LA and Subramaniam S. (2016) Cryo-EM of viruses and vaccine design. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U S A. 113(32):8903-8905. doi: 10.1073/pnas.1609721113
  4. Do T*, Murphy G*, Earl LA*, Del Prete GQ, Grandinetti G, Li G, Estes JD, Rao P, Trubey CM, Thomas J, Spector J, Bliss D, Nath A, Lifson JD, and Subramaniam S. (2014) 3D imaging of HIV-1 virological synapses reveals membrane architectures involved in virus transmission. J. Virol. 88(18):10327-39. doi: 10.1128/JVI.00788-14
  5. Earl LA, Lifson JD, Subramaniam S. (2013) Catching HIV ‘in the act’ with 3D electron microscopy. Trends Microbiol. 21(8):397-404. doi: 10.1016/j.tim.2013.06.004
  6. Earl LA*, Bi S*, Baum LG. (2011) Galectin multimerization and lattice formation are regulated by linker region structure. Glycobiology. 21(1):6-12. doi: 10.1093/glycob/cwq144
  7. Earl LA, Bi S, Baum LG. (2010) N- and O-glycans modulate galectin-1 binding, CD45 signaling, and T cell death. J. Biol. Chem. 285(4):2232-44. doi: 10.1074/jbc.M109.066191
  8. Earl LA, Baum LG. (2008) Glycosylation and CD45: how sugars control T-cell life and death. Immunol. Cell. Biol. 86(7): 605-15. doi: 10.1038/icb.2008.46

Sample Illustrations

Molecular model of peptides derived from the protein PEDF, which may be used to slow retinal degeneration.
Surgical methods for treating trichiasis, a complication of the eye disease trachoma.
Side and top views of the MAC, an immune system molecule potentially involved in progression of age-related macular degeneration.