Retinal Degenerative Diseases

John D. Ash, Ph.D., Francis M. Bullard Eminent Scholar Chair in Ophthalmological Sciences, Department of Ophthalmology, College of Medicine at the University of Florida. Dr. Ash received his Ph.D. from the Ohio State University Biochemistry Program in 1994, and completed postdoctoral training in the Cell Biology Department at Baylor College of Medicine, in Houston, Texas, and began his faculty career at the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center, Oklahoma. Dr. Ash is also a Visiting Professor at the Dalian Medical University, Dalian China. Dr. Ash has written and published 60 manuscripts including research articles, book chapters and invited reviews, and has edited four books. He is currently an Executive editor for Experimental Eye research and a Scientific Review Editor for Molecular Vision. Dr. Ash is an active reviewer for these journals as well as Investigative Ophthalmology & Visual Science. In 2009, Dr. Ash received a research award from Hope for Vision, and in 2010 he received a Lew R. Wasserman Merit award from Research to Prevent Blindness, Inc. Dr. Ash has received grants from the National Institutes of Health, the Foundation Fighting Blindness, Research to Prevent Blindness, Inc., Hope for Vision, and the American Diabetes Association. Dr. Ash has served on the Program and Advocacy committees of the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology. Dr. Ash has served on the scientific review panel for Fight For Sight (2005-2008) and is currently serving on the Scientific Advisory Board of the Foundation Fighting Blindness (Columbia, MD) where he chairs the review committee on Novel Medical Therapies Program. He also serves on the scientific review panel for the Macular Degeneration program of the BrightFocus Foundation (formerly the American Health Assistance Foundation, Clarksburg, MD). Robert Eugene Anderson, MD, Ph.D., is George Lynn Cross Research Professor, Dean A. McGee Professor of Ophthalmology, Professor of Cell Biology, and Adjunct Professor of Geriatric Medicine at The University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. He is also Director of Research at the Dean A. McGee Eye Institute. He received his Ph.D. in Biochemistry (1968) from Texas A&M University and his MD from Baylor College of Medicine in 1975. In 1968, he was a postdoctoral fellow at Oak Ridge Associated Universities. At Baylor, he was appointed Assistant Professor in 1969, Associate Professor in 1976, and Professor in 1981. He joined the faculty of the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center in January of 1995. Dr. Anderson served as director of the Oklahoma Center for Neuroscience (1995-1999) and chairman of the Department of Cell Biology (1998-2007). He has received several honorary appointments including Visiting Professor, West China School of Medicine, Sichuan University, Chengdu, China; Honorary Professorship, Xi'an Jiaotong University, Xi'an, China; and Honorary Professor of Sichuan Medical Science Academy, Sichuan Provincial People's Hospital, Sichuan, China. Dr. Anderson has received the Sam and Bertha Brochstein Award for Outstanding Achievement in Retina Research from the Retina Research Foundation (1980), and the Dolly Green Award (1982) and two Senior Scientific Investigator Awards (1990 and 1997) from Research to Prevent Blindness, Inc. He received an Award for Outstanding Contributions to Vision Research from the Alcon Research Institute (1985), and the Marjorie Margolin Prize (1994). He has served on the editorial boards of Investigative Ophthalmology and Visual Science, Journal of Neuroscience Research, Neurochemistry International, Current Eye Research, and Experimental Eye Research. Dr. Anderson has published extensively in the areas of lipid metabolism in the retina and biochemistry of retinal degenerations. He has edited 18 books, 17 on retinal degenerations and one on the biochemistry of the eye. Dr. Anderson has re

Part I Age-Related Macular Degeneration (AMD).- Oxidative Stress Regulation and DJ-1 function in the Retinal Pigment Epithelium: implications for AMD.- Mitochondria: Potential Targets for Protection in Age-Related Macular Degeneration.- Toll-Like Receptors and Age-Related Macular Degeneration.- Alterations in Extracellular Matrix/Bruch's Membrane can cause the Activation of the Alternative Complement Pathway via Tick-over.- MicroRNA as Therapeutics for Age Related Macular Degeneration.- Anaphylatoxin Signaling in Retinal Pigment and Choroidal Endothelial Cells: Characteristics and Relevance to Age-Related Macular Degeneration.- Estimations of Retinal Blue-Light Irradiance Values and Melatonin Suppression Indices Through Clear and Yellow-Tinted Intraocular Lenses.- Co-expression of wild-type and mutant S163R C1QTNF5 in retinal pigment epithelium.- Part II Gene Therapies.- Mini-Review: Cell Type Specific Optogenetic Vision Restoration Approaches.- Mutation-Independent Gene Therapies for Rod-Cone Dystrophies.- Antisense Oligonucleotide-Based Splice Correction of a Deep-Intronic Mutation in CHM Underlying Choroideremia.- Gene Therapy Approaches to Treat the Neurodegeneration and Visual Failure in Neuronal Ceroid Lipofuscinoses.- Success of Gene Therapy in Late-Stage Treatment.- Optimizing Non-Viral Gene Therapy Vectors for Delivery to Photoreceptors and Retinal Pigment Epithelial Cells.- Nanoparticles as Delivery Vehicles for the Treatment of Retinal Degenerative Diseases.- Over Expression of Type 3 Iodothyronine Deiodinase Reduces Cone Death in the Leber Congenital Amaurosis Model Mice.- Part III In-Vivo Diagnostics for Structure and Function.- In Vivo Functional Imaging of Retinal Neurons Using Red and Green Fluorescent Calcium Indicators.- Optimizing ERG Measures of Scotopic and Photopic Critical Flicker Frequency.- Repeatability and Reproducibility of In Vivo Cone Density Measurements in the Adult Zebrafish Retina.- Normative Retinal Thicknesses inCommon Animal Models of Eye Disease Using Spectral Domain Optical Coherence Tomography.- A Novel Approach for Integrating AF-SLO and SDOCT Imaging Data Demonstrates the Ability to Identify Early Retinal Abnormalities in Mutant Mice and Evaluate the Effects of Genetic and Pharmacological Manipulation.- Part IV Inflammation and Angiogenesis.- The Role of Hypoxia, Hypoxia-Inducible Factor (HIF) and VEGF In Retinal Angiomatous Proliferation.- Neuroinflammation in Retinitis Pigmentosa, Diabetic Retinopathy and Age-related Macular Degeneration: A Minireview.- Autoimmune Retinopathy: An Immunologic Cellular-Driven Disorder.- Inflammation-Induced Photoreceptor Cell Death.- Sall1 Regulates Microglial Morphology Cell Autonomously in the Developing Retina.- Part V Inherited Retinal Degenerations.- Whole-Exome Sequencing Identifies Novel Variants that Co-Segregates with Autosomal Recessive Retinal Degeneration in a Pakistani Pedigree.- Identification of Novel Deletions as the Underlying Causeof Retinal Degeneration in Two Pedigrees.- Molecular Findings in Families with an Initial Diagnose of Autosomal Dominant Retinitis Pigmentosa (Adrp).- Pleiotropic Effects of Risk Factors in Age-Related Macular Degeneration and Seemingly Unrelated Complex Diseases.- Mapping of Canine Models of Inherited Retinal Diseases.- A Mini-Review: Leber Congenital Amaurosis; Identification of Disease-Causing Variants, and Personalised Therapies.- Part VI Mechanisms of Degeneration.- Role of Fibulins 2 & 5 in Retinal Development and Maintenance.- Identifying Key Networks Linked to Light-Independent Photoreceptor Degeneration in Visual Arrestin 1 Knockout Mice.- How Excessive Cgmp Impacts Metabolic Proteins in Retinas at the Onset of Degeneration.- Protein Carbonylation-Dependent Photoreceptor Cell Death Induced by N-Methyl-N-Nitrosourea in Mice.- Müller Glia Reactivity and Development of Gliosis in Response to Pathological Conditions.- Underdeveloped RPE Apical Domain Underlies Lesion Formationin Canine Bestrophinopathies.- Binary Function of ARL3-GTP Revealed by Gene Knockouts.- Do cGMP Levels Drive the Speed of Photoreceptor Degeneration?.- Early endosome morphology in health and disease.- The Retinal Circadian Clock and Photoreceptors Viability.- The Role of C-Jun N-Terminal Kinase (JNK) in Retinal Degeneration and Vision Loss.- The Evaluation of BMI1 Posttranslational Modifications During Retinal Degeneration to Understand BMI1 Action on Photoreceptor Death Execution.- PKG-Dependent Cell Death in 661W Cone Photoreceptor-Like Cell Cultures.- Impact of MCT1 Haploinsufficiency on the Mouse Retina.- The Leber Congenital Amaurosis-Linked Protein AIPL1 and its Critical Role in Photoreceptors.- Alternative Splicing for Activation of Coagulation Factor XIII-A in the Fish Retina After Optic Nerve Injury.- Bisretinoid Photodegradation is Likely Not a Good Thing.- Further Characterization of the Predominant Inner Retinal Degeneration of Aging Cln3^Deltaex7/8 Knock-in Mice.- Differential Exon Expression in a Large Family of Retinal Genes is Regulated By a Single Trans Locus.- Molecular Chaperone Erp29: A Potential Target for Cellular Protection in Retinal and Neurodegenerative Diseases.- The Role of Microbiota in Retinal Disease.- Part VII Neuroprotection.- Current Pharmacological Concepts in the Treatment of the Retinitis Pigmentosa.- Valproic Acid Inhibits Human Retinal Pigment Epithelial (hRPE) Cell Proliferation via a P38 MAPK Signaling Mechanism.- Pigment Epithelium-derived Factor Protects Retinal Pigment Epithelial Cells against Cytotoxicity "In Vitro".- Brain Derived Neurotrophic Factor as a Treatment Option for Retinal Degeneration.- VEGF as a Trophic Factor for Müller Glia in Hypoxic Retinal Diseases.- Müller Cell Biological Processes Associated with Leukemia Inhibitory Factor Expression.- Retbindin is Capable of Protecting Photoreceptors from Flavin-sensitized Light-mediated Cell Death In Vitro.- Constitutive Activation Mutant mTOR Promote Cone Survival in Retinitis Pigmentosa Mice.- Maintaining Cone Function in Rod-Cone Dystrophies.- Primary Rod and Cone Degeneration is Prevented by HDAC Inhibition.- Part IIX Retinal Cell Biology.- More than meets the eye: current understanding of RPGR function.- Polarized Exosome Release from the Retinal Pigmented Epithelium.- The Impact of Adherens and Tight Junctions on Physiological Function and Pathological Changes in the Retina.- TRPV4 Does Not Regulate the Distal Retinal Light Response.- Role of Sirtuins in Retinal Function Under Basal Conditions.- The Retinol Binding Protein Receptor 2 (Rbpr2) is Required for Photoreceptor Survival and Visual Function in the Zebrafish.- Opposite Roles of MerTK Ligands Gas6 and Protein S During Retinal Phagocytosis.- Redundant and Non-Redundant Functions of Akt Isoforms in the Retina.- Photoreceptor Outer Segment Isolation from a Single Canine Retina for RPE Phagocytosis Assay.- Preservation of Photoreceptor Nanostructure for Electron Tomography Using Transcardiac Perfusion Followed by High Pressure Freezing and Freeze-Substitution.- Microtubule-Associated Protein 1 Light Chain 3 (LC3) Isoforms in RPE and Retina.- Part IX Stem Cells.- The Ipsc-derived Retinal Tissue as a Tool to Study Growth Factor Production in the Eye.- Stem Cell-Based RPE Therapy for Retinal Diseases: Engineering 3D Tissues Amenable for Regenerative Medicine.- Validation of IPS Cell-derived RPE Tissue in Animal Models.- Cell Transplantation for Retinal Degeneration: Transition from Rodent to Non-Human Primate ModelsCell Transplantation for Retinal Degeneration: Transition from Rodent to Non-Human Primate Models.