4 Topic Commentaries

Rethinking Retinal Regeneration

Rethinking Retinal Regeneration

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  Tom Greenwell, PhD

  Vision science

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  National Eye Institute, National Institutes of Health

  Importantly, the investigation also demonstrates that newly generated cells in the mouse retina not only look and behave like neurons, they also wire correctly to the existing neural circuitry at the back of the eye.

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  Thomas A. Reh, PhD

  Neurobiology (retinal regeneration)

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  University of Washington School of Medicine

  We see this research as opening up the possibility of gene therapies for diseases where retinal neurons are lost,

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  Leonard A. Levin, MD, PhD

  Neuro-ophthalmology

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  McGill University

  Once the rocket launched, we needed the means to course correct, land and get back to Earth. Once stem cell-derived photoreceptors are placed in the eye, we need the means to noninvasively confirm they connect to other retinal cells and function,

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  Hendrik Scholl, MD, MA

  Ophthalmology (inherited retinal diseases)

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  Johns Hopkins Medicine, Wilmer Eye Institute

  Of the three types of therapy we have at our disposal—pharmaceuticals, gene replacement, and stem cell transplantation—only stem cells hold the promise of actually curing blindness.

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