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Retinitis pigmentosa, a group of genetic disorders in which the retina’s light-sensing cells — its rods and cones — die or stop responding to light, is thought to affect around 2 million people worldwide. Treatments typically aim to slow down the loss of sight, but some researchers have grander ambitions: to restore lost vision, using a form of gene therapy that can make cells of the retina sensitive to light.
Join Botond Roska, Co-director of the Institute of Molecular and Clinical Ophthalmology and Zhuo-Hua Pan, Scientific Director of Ligon Research Center of Vision at the Kresge Eye Institute to discuss the progress that has been made towards this goal of reversing blindness, the trials that are underway right now, and what challenges lie ahead.
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Presenters
Moderator: Richard Hodson
Senior Editor, Supplements
Nature
Botond Roska
Co-director
Institute of Molecular and Clinical Ophthalmology Basel, Switzerland
Prof. Roska received his M.D. degree at the Semmelweis Medical School in Budapest, Hungary. He completed his Ph.D. studies in neurology at the University of California, Berkeley, USA, before becoming a Harvard Society Fellow in genetics at Harvard University and Harvard Medical School, USA.
In 2005, he joined the renowned Friedrich Miescher Institute in Basel, Switzerland, where he led an interdisciplimary group of scientists working in the area of neuroscience, genetics, and physiology with a focus on vision. His research has advanced the understanding of neuronal circuits in the retina, thalamus and cortex, and his group pioneered optogenetic therapy to restore vision to the blind.
Prof. Roska has received numerous prestigious honors and awards, including the Körber European Science Prize and the Louis-Jeantet Prize for Medicine. He has authored over 83 articles and reviews in peer-reviewed journals and is a member of multiple scientific advisory and editorial boards.
Prof. Roska also studied mathematics and violencello during his time in Hungary. He enjoys writing mathematical proofs and playing the cello whenever time allows.
Zhuo-Hua Pan
Scientific Director
Ligon Research Center of Vision at the Kresge Eye Institute in Detroit, Michigan, USA
Dr. Zhuo-Hua Pan is the Edward T. and Ellen K. Dryer Endowed Professor and a professor in the Department of Ophthalmology, Visual and Anatomical Sciences at the Wayne State University School of Medicine. He also serves as the scientific director of the Ligon Research Center of Vision at Kresge Eye Institute in Detroit. After earning his Ph.D. in Biophysics from SUNY Buffalo, Dr. Pan held academic positions at Children's Hospital and Brigham & Women's Hospital, both affiliated with Harvard Medical School. He joined Wayne State University in 1999.
In 2006, Dr. Pan's group published a groundbreaking proof-of-concept study on optogenetic vision restoration. His team has since been focusing on improving this technology, leading to over 15 peer-reviewed papers and 10 patents or patent applications. Dr. Pan served as a scientific advisor for RetroSense Therapeutics, which initiated the first clinical trials for optogenetic therapy. He is also a scientific co-founder of Ray Therapeutics, a company currently conducting clinical trials with advanced optogenetic technology.