New Podcast Episode. Climbing the Scientific Mountain of Retinal Regeneration
Collectively, retinal degenerative disorders are a major cause of blindness worldwide. For example, one of the most common disorders is age related macular degeneration, which alone affects nearly 200 million globally.
In humans, and other mammals, the loss of the retinal cells is an irreversible process. However, in some non-mammalian vertebrates like frogs and fish, retinal neurons can regenerate. This process is dependent upon Müller glia, which can re-enter the cell cycle and reprogram into neurogenic progenitors upon retinal injury or disease. Progress has been made in understanding the genetic program underlying these regenerative process, and proof-of-principle experiments in the adult mouse retina demonstrated that genetic programs in frog and fish can be coopted to induce neurogenesis in mammals. Our guests today have extended this research to genetically reprogram fetal or organoid-derived human Müller glia into retinal neurons. They will talk about this work, the background underlying it and its potential applications.
Guests
Thomas Reh, PHD, Institute for Stem Cell & Regenerative Medicine, University of Washington, USA
Juliette Wohlschlegel, PhD, Institute for Stem Cell & Regenerative Medicine, University of Washington, USA
Thomas Reh is a Professor of Biological Structure, and a member of Institute for Stem Cell and Regenerative Medicine at the University of Washington. His research is focused on understanding retinal disease in disorders such as glaucoma and macular degeneration, and on developing treatments for vision loss. The Reh laboratory studies regeneration in animal models, including invertebrates like frog and fish, to understand the key genes involved in endogenous regeneration. The ultimate goal of this research is to stimulate regeneration in the mammalian retina, and ultimately to restore sight in patients.
Juliette Wohlschlegel is a postdoctoral scholar in the Reh laboratory. Dr. Wohlschlegel received her undergraduate degree in neuroscience from the Sorbonne Université, and her PhD from Institut de la Vision in France, where she studied inherited retinal diseases.
Drs. Reh and Wohlschlegel are authors of the recently published paper, ASCL1 induces neurogenesis in human Müller glia, in Stem Cell Reports.