Karl Wahlin
University of California-San Diego, CA·Neuroscience
Retinal ganglion cells (RGCs) are the nerve cells that carry visual signals from the eye to the brain. In glaucoma and other optic nerve diseases, these cells' long fibers, called axons, are damaged and the cells die, causing permanent blindness.
- Fields
Neuroscience
Biology
Biomedical Engineering
- Topics
retinal ganglion cells
Müller glia
retinal regeneration
- Grants
- 1 known grant, through Apr 2030
What they work on
- Test whether transcription factors that drive cell division (β-catenin, LIN28) or neuron formation (ASCL1, NEUROG2), delivered by AAV, activate lineage-traced Müller glia in human retinal organoids.
- Suppress regeneration roadblocks, including NFIA, NFIB, NFIX and the ATF7IP-JUNB-ZNF207 complex that converge on STAT signaling, with CRISPR interference to enhance progenitor cell formation from Müller glia.
- Use a drug-inducible Caspase9 (iCasp9) model that selectively kills retinal ganglion cells to study how injury activates Müller glia and track the loss and return of reporter-labeled RGCs.
- Steer Müller glia-derived progenitors toward a retinal ganglion cell fate by delivering developmental transcription factors with AAV.
More about the research
Fish, salamanders and birds can regrow lost retinal neurons, but mammals have largely lost this ability. In animals that regenerate, support cells called Müller glia turn back into dividing, stem-like cells and then become new neurons. This switch is driven by transcription factors (TFs), proteins that turn sets of genes on or off. Which TFs control each step in humans is still not fully known.
Why it matters
Millions of people have vision loss from glaucoma and other optic neuropathies, and lost retinal ganglion cells currently cannot be replaced. Identifying factors that let the retina's own Müller glia become new ganglion cells could point to new ways to rebuild retinal tissue and, eventually, restore vision.
Known grants
From NIH and NSF research grants. Labs often have other funding we can't see.
Closest labs
Wonkyu Ju
University of California-San Diego, CA·Neuroscience
Define how AIBP, a cholesterol-removing protein, controls activation of the inflammatory receptor TLR4 within lipid rafts of Müller glia, the retina's main support cells.
Matthew Veldman
Medical College of Wisconsin, WI·Neuroscience
Determine when srebf2, a master regulator of cholesterol production, is needed in zebrafish retinal ganglion cells for optic nerve regeneration, using srebf2 activity reporter lines.
Karsten Gronert
University of California-Berkeley, CA·Neuroscience
Define which retinal cells make and respond to prostaglandin D2 (PGD2), a fat-derived signaling molecule, in healthy retina and how raised eye pressure (ocular hypertension) shuts this pathway down.
The school
University of California-San Diego: 84 labs on PI Pages, $1.9B a year on research, 637 research doctorates a year.
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