Retinal Cell and Molecular Biology
Revealing and understanding the fundamental biological mechanisms of the retina
Research Focus
A long-standing area of excellence at JSEI is understanding the fundamental retinal biology that makes vision possible. These labs reveal the highly specialized molecular and cellular interactions that occur in the retina.
Key Research Areas:
- Photoreceptor biology
- The retinal pigment epithelium
- Molecular signaling and receptors
Faculty
Gordon Fain
Professor
Photoreceptor Physiology
Dr. Fain's research focuses on the biophysical mechanisms of photoreceptor function and adaptation. His work has provided fundamental insights into how photoreceptors respond to light and adapt to different lighting conditions, contributing to our understanding of both normal vision and retinal disease.
Michael J Gilhooley
Assistant Professor in Residence
Optic Neuropathies and Circadian Biology
Dr. Gilhooley's laboratory focuses on intrinsically photosensitive retinal ganglion cells (ipRGCs) in the context of mitochondrial optic neuropathies such as Leber Hereditary Optic Neuropathy (LHON) and Dominant Optic Atrophy (DOA / OPA1). He aims to uncover why ipRGCs are selectively spared in these diseases with the goal of harnessing this resilience to develop neuroprotective therapies.
Yi-Rong Peng
Assistant Professor In-Residence
Visual System Development and Degeneration
Dr. Peng investigates the cellular and molecular mechanisms that underly the formation and degeneration of the visual system. Her research uses multi-omics and bioinformatics tools to uncover the genetic basis of neural circuit development and degeneration.
Roxana A. Radu
Associate Professor In-Residence
Retina Biochemistry and Disease Modeling
Dr. Radu's research investigates retinal degenerative diseases by exploring the retinal pigment epithelium (RPE), a crucial cell layer supporting photoreceptors. Using advanced genetic, biochemical, and cell biological approaches, including induced pluripotent stem cells and mouse models, the laboratory examines molecular mechanisms driving RPE-photoreceptor dysfunction, with the goal of developing potential therapeutic interventions.
Alapakkam Sampath
Professor
Phototransduction and Synaptic Transmission
Dr. Sampath’s focuses on understanding how rod and cone photoreceptors, and their retinal circuits, encode visual information. His lab uses advanced electrophysiological techniques to study mechanisms of signal detection and light adaptation. A more recent focus is in how physiological mechanisms compensate for photoreceptor loss during retinal degenerations.
Hui Sun
Professor
Chemical Biology of Novel Membrane Receptors
Membrane receptors belong to the most successful therapeutic targets in disease treatment. The Sun lab has developed new techniques to discover novel membrane receptors and to identify their chemical modulators that can be potential drugs in treating major diseases that affect the eye and other organs.
Gabriel Travis
Professor
Photoreceptor Biochemistry
Dr. Gabriel Travis studies the regeneration of opsin visual pigments in rod and cone photoreceptor cells. This enzymatic pathway involves multiple proteins. The genes for several of these proteins are affected in inherited photoreceptor degenerations that cause progressive blindness in humans.
David Williams
Professor In-Residence
Retinal Cell Biology
The Williams laboratory studies dynamic cellular events in photoreceptor and RPE cells, with the aim of understanding basic cellular functions within these highly specialized cells, as well as the underlying processes in retinal degenerations.
Xian-Jie Yang
Professor In-Residence
Retinal Development and Gene Therapy
Dr. Yang studies retinal development and repair using molecular genetic approaches. Her research provides insight on cellular signaling mechanism involved in neuroprotection in retinal degenerative diseases. She also uses human stem cell-derived retinal organoids and neurons to model optic neuropathies and develop therapy.
Jie J. Zheng
Professor In-Residence
Therapeutic Development and AI-Powered Analysis in Vision Research
Dr. Zheng’s research combines chemical biology, cell biology, computational biology, systems pharmacology, and drug discovery to develop innovative therapies for ophthalmic diseases. Leveraging their multidisciplinary expertise, his laboratory focuses on translating research into novel treatments for glaucoma, retinal diseases, and corneal disorders. Additionally, they employ AI-driven protein-protein interaction analysis to investigate the mechanisms underlying different inherited retinal diseases.
Joel Zylberberg
Associate Professor In-Residence
Computational Neuroscience and Vision
Dr. Zylberberg's research combines theoretical and computational approaches to understand how neural circuits process visual information. His work focuses on developing mathematical models of visual processing and applying machine learning to analyze neural data.