Super proud of this work from the COVSL team led by Tracy Jaggers and Ana Ripolles-Garcia - six years of hard work defining this 🙈 model of ADOA.
Rhesus macaques with an OPA1 mutation demonstrate features of autosomal dominant optic atrophy | PNAS www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...
ISER will have a booth at the @arvoinfo.bsky.social 2026 Mtg in Denver and would love to have volunteers to represent ISER there. This is a great opportunity to support ISER, reconnect w/colleagues, and engage with the vision research community.
Sign up here: aao-wihgh.formstack.com/forms/iser_v...
#FluorescenceFriday
This microscopic🔬 object is a specialized immune cell (microglia) that resides in your retina👁️ and is responsible for damage control and refinement of neural circuits. GFP labeled
@urneuroscience.bsky.social @urochestersmd.bsky.social @flaumeye.bsky.social @uofrbme.bsky.social
Today on the animals with fascinating eyes news of the day: Anableps anableps, a four-eyed fish (they really have 2 eyes, but still): www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6....
📸: A 3D rendering of a retinal ganglion cell—the neurons that carry visual signals from your eye to your brain. Dr. Rob Nickells, a BrightFocus Foundation National Glaucoma Research grant recipient, is studying how to protect these cells from glaucoma. https://bit.ly/4tGjBHK
An image of Muller Glia cells (green) co-localizing with a cytoskeletal marker (purple). There are two red blood cells hiding on the bottom of the image. In frogs, red blood cells have nuclei.
I like this image. That is all. 🐸🧪🔬
Muller glia (green) and their cytoskeleton (purple). And a couple of red blood cells have made an appearance.
Normal neuro-vascular maps of the macular inner-retina. Top half clinical imaging: Topographic analyses from 96 normal eyes for OCT thickness (Trinh et al., 2022b) and 57 normal eyes for OCTA signal (Trinh et al., 2021a), with exclusion of any retinal macular/optic nerve pathology. Common locations of the optic nerve head and retinal blood vessels were excluded from OCT scans (Burke et al., 2024a, 2024b; Tong et al., 2020; Trinh et al., 2020, 2021b, 2022b). OCT layers are depicted on the left using a standardised thickness scale (darker green = greater thickness), while OCTA slabs are depicted on the right using a standardised OCTA signal (darker red = greater OCTA signal). Vascular slab approximations were adapted from Campbell et al. (Campbell et al., 2017). For reference, the RPE-BM (drusen layer) is shown using OCT thickness, and the choriocapillaris is shown using OCTA signal. Bottom half histological imaging: Resin embedded, 100 nm serial section of mid-peripheral retina of aged, normal human eye (87 year old male) with amino acid immunolabelling of GABA, glycine, and glutamate mapped to the red, green, and blue colour channels, respectively, and rod opsin labelling indicated in yellow. The section illustrates the laminar organisation of the inner- and outer-retina for cross-reference with the OCT layers above and the distinct neurochemical signatures of neurons in these layers. White scale bar 100 μm. RNFL, retinal nerve fibre layer; GCL, ganglion cell layer; IPL, inner plexiform layer; INL, inner nuclear layer; OPL, outer plexiform layer; ONL, outer nuclear layer; IS/OS, photoreceptor inner- and outer-segments; RPE-BM, retinal pigment epithelium to Bruch's membrane.
New publication: Inner-Retinal Changes In AMD: Evidence, Mechanisms, and Future Perspectives.
A fun project with Matt Trinh, Michael Kalloniatis, myself, Glenn Yiu, Enrico Borrelli, and Lisa Nivison-Smith
bryanwjones.com/2026/03/inne...
#SciArt Profile: Brittany Carr
In this profile, we meet @drbjcarr.bsky.social, an Assistant Professor at University of Alberta. Brittany uses acrylic, watercolour, gouache & ink to create pictures of the natural world & uses microscopy for ‘science’ art.
thenode.biologists.com/sciart-profi...
New study led by Ning Shen w/ @phruzycki.bsky.social: a genome-wide in vivo CRISPR screen in a retinitis pigmentosa mouse model identifies genes whose loss accelerates photoreceptor death. Overexpressing two, UFD1 and UXT, preserves photoreceptors, retinal function, and vision. 🧵
I am excited to share my new paper in @plosbiology.org . Here we show the role of chitin, a polysaccharide, in controlling the shape of the fly corneal lens.
journals.plos.org/plosbiology/...
Chitin organization during corneal lens morphogenesis. Top row: apical surfaces of wild-type (white1118) mid-pupal retinas stained for chitin with chitin-binding domain probe CBD (green) and E-Cadherin and N-Cadherin (magenta). From left to right, the times are 48 h after puparium formation (APF), 50 h APF, 51 h APF, 52 h APF, and 54 h APF. Middle row shows enlargements of single ommatidia. Bottom: Diagram of chitin (green) organization during corneal lens development. CC, cone cells; 1º, primary pigment cells; 2º, secondary pigment cells; 3º, tertiary pigment cells; B, mechanosensory bristles.
How does the #corneal #lens in the #fly eye get its light-focusing shape? @nehaghosh.bsky.social &co show that central cells produce large amounts of #chitin to form the thick central corneal lens; peripheral cells produce smaller amounts to form tapered lens edges @plosbiology.org 🧪 plos.io/4lLNgeY
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)
