Grant: Operating Grant

Neural stem cells have the potential to generate any cell types in the nervous system, providing a promising new avenue for replacing lost cells after injury, stroke or disease. Disappointingly, when neural stem cells are transplanted into a damaged region of interest in the brain, or the retina, they do not always become the appropriate cell type for that region. These findings indicate that there is great potential for stem cell therapies, but that a better understanding of the cellular and molecular mechanisms controlling how neural stem cells choose to become a particular cell type or another during normal development will be crucial in designing efficient stem cell therapies. Here, we propose experiments to study the molecular mechanisms that lead to the generation of different cell types during development of the vertebrate retina, with a particular emphasis on the production and function of the light-sensing cells of the retina: the photoreceptors. We reason that a deeper understanding of the mechanisms regulating normal retinal development will be critical in designing efficient cell replacement therapies for diseases leading to photoreceptor degeneration and vision loss.