Grant: CIHR Fellowship

In increasingly aging population, degenerative diseases of the retina are becoming more and more frequent. Retinitis Pigmentosa affects roughly 12 000 Canadians, and Macular Degeneration already afflicts approximately one million. When these diseases strike, they lead to a permanent loss of neuronal cells in the retina, which is the structure that receives and transforms light into neural transmissions. These neurons could theoretically be replaced by stem cells, either by transplanting them into the eye, or by harnessing the stem cells that are present within the human retina. Previous experiments have shown that both approaches can generate new retinal neurons in principle; however these processes are currently too inefficient to be used therapeutically. To enhance the ability of neural stem cells to repair retinal damage, we need to increase our understanding of the biology that governs the ability of these cells to generate retinal neurons. To do this, I intend to study the gene Ikaros, a gene that has been previously shown to control the capability (competence) of retinal stem cells to generate all of the different types of retinal neurons. How the Ikaros gene does this is completely unknown. Therefore, I will perform experiments to determine how Ikaros functions. I will use the developmental formation of the retina as an experimental system, since this is the context in which Ikaros functions in nature. I anticipate that the information provided by these studies will have direct implications for harnessing neural stem cells to repair neurodegenerative disorders of the retina.