Inhibitory neurons are among the most transcriptomically diverse class of neurons in the CNS, with some brain regions having 60+ distinct cell types. Do humans share the same repertoire as rodents? Birds? Fish? 1/13
Smoking is one of the top documented risk factors for #AMD (age related macular degeneration). But a "risk factor" is just a fancy way of saying "we know it is somehow connected, but do not know how". This paper from Johns Hopkins sheds light on a possible mechanism.
#retina
#blindness
Chloe Cable, Sidney P. Kuo and Eric A. Newman observed that junctional conductance of #retinal AII amacrine cell electrical synapses is decreased by #NMDA receptors 👁️ 🧠
📜 Read the study here: physoc.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1113/...
The image is a promotional banner for "Glaucoma Chats," featuring Inas F. Aboobakar, MD. It includes text: "Discussing Glaucoma With Your Family," scheduled for Wednesday, March 11, 1 pm Eastern.
Family history is one of the strongest risk factors for glaucoma.
Dr. Inas Aboobakar joins Glaucoma Chats to explain the role of genetics and family history in glaucoma, what and when to share with relatives, and how to encourage glaucoma eye exams.
Register: https://bit.ly/4u7l1Lh
Early for #FluorescenceFriday but who cares..
Retinal neural networks in a frame
Chicken retina whole mount showing amacrine cells, with their dendritic arborizations forming a connected mesh
A reminder that the retina is a powerful neural circuit shaping vision before ganglion cells even fire
Retinal ON-bipolar cell expressing mEmerald-Sec61 (blue), and labeled with mGluR6 antibody (red).
An elegant ON bipolar cell expressing ER marker mEmerald-Sec61 🟦 and co-stained with mGluR6 antibody 🟥. #FluorescenceFriday More info in this old paper: www.eneuro.org/content/5/3/...
Best kind of surprise for the weekend: an unexpected meet-up with Chase, the first PhD student from the lab!
Hey, @edwardsmalia.bsky.social from Hopkins Ophthalmology is finally here on Bsky. Say hello to her.
I'm excited to share our PNAS paper from 1st author Kasia Hussey. We study how the foveola, the high acuity region of the retina, is patterned by RA and TH. We were surprised to find that cone subtypes appear to convert fates. Our studies are important for AMD sufferers. www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...
🧬 New IRD gene identified!
IOB researchers (@abimoye.bsky.social, @mquinodoz.bsky.social, @carlorivolta.bsky.social) found pathogenic variants in SAXO6 (formerly MDM1) in families with a rare late-onset retinal degeneration.
🔗 www.cell.com/ajhg/fulltex...
#AcademicBlueSky
So what’s SAXO6 doing?
Diane Bovenkamp, Vice President of Scientific Affairs at BrightFocus is at podium giving her speech while Dan Ignaszewski, Executive Director of NAEVR/AVER looks on.
Diane Bovenkamp and Dan Ignaszewski in front of NAEVR/AVER sign.
Speakers at AMD Congressional Briefing: Diane Bovenkamp, Connie Hills, Matt Levine, Dan Ignaszewski (missing Raj Apte—gave virtual presentation)
Diane Bovenkamp in front of the Rayburn Building where the briefing took place
Advocated today in DC at Congressional Briefing for #agerelatedmaculardegeneration funding to NIH & NEI. Thanks to NAEVR/AVER & AMDF for inviting @brightfocus.bsky.social to give a private funder’s perspective. Only by working together can we keep the research pipeline moving to make AMD history.
"never been seen" - maybe not by humans, but I bet species with UV cones in their retinas can see it!
The @iser.bsky.social meeting is going to be in Valencia in August. Anyone interested in participating in a session on Retinal Remodeling and gliosis?
Lemme know and we can have a chat.
Excited to share this collaborative work with @sarathomasy.bsky.social- spearheaded by Raneesh Ramarapu and William Stoehr- where we visualized the unique spatial localization of tubulin isotopes in neural crest-derived corneal tissues during development. 🤩
A collage of different microscopy images. From top left across: tadpole tailbud, olfactory neurons, lucifer yellow labeled cones, a color depth map of peripherin labeling of rod outer segments, red mutant cone outer segments, multiciliated skin cells, prom1 labeling in outer segments, and actin labeling in a tadpole tail.
Happy #FluorescenceFriday Here's a collage of some of my favorite images from my postdoc. See alt for descriptions. 🧪 🐸 #retina
A high magnification image showing tiers and rows of photoreceptors that are labeled with acetylated tubulin (magenta) arranged in vertical orientation within each cell and a wee green dot--actually a tiny donut-- of labeled Usherin protein encircling the base of each cilia. Mutations in the USH2A gene affect the localization and function of this protein and represent the most common cause of both usher syndrome and the most common cause of the type of progressive blindness known as retinitis pigmentosa. Seeing this, the normal localization of Usherin, combined with additional behavioral and histological tests, demonstrate that the removal of a small region of this very large protein doesn't adversely affect localization or function of the modified protein. This provides proof of principal that if someone has Usher syndrome or RP due to mutations found within this small region, creating a similar modification in their photoreceptor cells could provide improved protein function, better vision, and delay or minimize the degeneration.
On #FluorescenceFriday, a deceptively simple looking image that took literal YEARS to obtain. These 10dpf zebrafish photoreceptors are showing that a particular modification to the protein Usherin does not affect protein localization & thus can be pursued as a therapy for Usher syndrome type 2A 🧪
Inside your retina, tiny support cells called amacrine cells help fine-tune how you see. 👁️ They shape and time visual signals before they’re sent to the brain—supporting motion, contrast, and detail.
Learn more at webvision.pitt.edu
I’m very excited to announce that a part of my PhD thesis project is now a preprint! In this paper, we show how spontaneous activity prior to visual experience shapes neural circuits in the retina. (1/11)
The lab's first paper of the new year is out. In it, we investigate the role of the late stage retinal progenitor-enriched SoxE family factors Sox8 and Sox9 in controlling retinal development./1
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
#Fish #vision #deepsea
"The current dogma is that vertebrates develop cone-dominated retinas first, adding rods later. Here we show that larval deep-sea fishes have “hybrid” photoreceptors, expressing cone-specific genes in rod-like cells."
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
Deepsea critters are just odd.
So you are a #deepsea #dragonfish who is going to emit red light to hunt by. Cool, cool. Obvously, you'll have a photoreptor for that red light.
Malacosteus says, "Nah...I will use *chlorophyll* extracts in my retina". 🤯
biolum.eemb.ucsb.edu/organism/dra...
New paper presenting rather compelling evidence that the stem-vertebrate Haikouichthys had paired lateral and supranumerary medial eyes (!!!), and proposing that the medial eyes may have deep homology with the pineal and parapineal organs.
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Birds have a thick retina devoid of blood vessels - so how do they ensure sufficient oxygen availability?
They don't - neurons rely on glycolysis, metabolizing glucose released from the pecten.
Insane new study that includes comparative data on lizards and crocs.🧪
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
The amount of truly stunning retinal research in avians coming out of Europe lately is making me jealous.
Such cooooool work.
A new paper from my lab. I will have a full description soon. rdcu.be/eX1Ld
#FluorescenceFriday
A sky of light within ✨
This is the ganglion cell layer of the avian retina. The nerve fiber layer lies beneath like a soft green current, carrying quiet signals forward.
Sometimes to see the universe with its beautiful scattered stars, one only has to look inside.
I'm so excited that @christ3na.bsky.social 's paper describing temporal control of photoreceptor development in human organoids is out at Genes and Dev and we got the cover!
genesdev.cshlp.org/content/40/1...
genesdev.cshlp.org/content/40/1...
Studying vision across light levels? Interested in rod photoreceptors and related (patho)physiology? Matteo Rizzi, Kate Powell and I wrote a review on rod photoreceptor activity at daylight doi.org/10.1016/j.vi... . Free access link here kwnsfk27.r.eu-west-1.awstrack.me/L0/https:%2F...
Hey, @drdorotask.bsky.social is here on Bsky!
Such cool work.
We think that retinas degenerate with time and that if all of us live long enough, we’ll get AMD or other neurodegenerative diseases.
But Greenland sharks manage to live for hundreds of years and repair their eyes.
How?
Nice summary on our paper on mechanisms controlling development and evolution of the cone-dominant ground squirrel retina, which is now in final form at eLife.
www.lifescienceeditors.com/2026/01/06/h...
