BioMedical Sciences Research Forum

Wednesday, April 10, 12-1 p.m.

MED-5M101; online

Dr. Curtis French

Associate Professor of Genetics | PhD (Alberta)

Studying Ocular Development and Disease in Zebrafish

Vision loss can reduce quality of life and represents a substantial burden to the health care system.  Understanding the genetic underpinnings of ocular disease can help to identify causative mechanisms and pathways that can be targeted for the development of therapeutics. The structure and function of the zebrafish eye is highly conserved with humans, and these animals can serve as a useful model to understand the role that specific genes play in ocular disease. Work in my lab focuses on genes involved in the survival of zebrafish retinal neurons. This presentation will review zebrafish mutants with defects in the function and survival of our light sensing photoreceptor cells, and retinal ganglion cells that connect our eyes to visual processing centres in the brain. A role for these genes in diseases such as cone-rod dystrophies and glaucoma will be discussed.

please contact andreasquires@mun.ca for Webex details

Presented by BioMedical Sciences