Mentors: Jose Raul Perez Estrada, Ph.D., Katia Del Rio-Tsonis, Ph.D.

Retinal degeneration leads to irreversible vision loss, significantly impacting quality of life. Approximately 19.83 million Americans over 40 have age-related macular degeneration (AMD), a leading cause of vision loss and retinal damage [1]. Unlike humans, embryonic chicks demonstrate a remarkable ability to regenerate their neural retina by activating neural progenitors of the ciliary margin (CM) and through retinal pigment epithelium (RPE) reprogramming [2]. Chicken retina regeneration only occurs at day 4 of embryonic development and is dependent on the presence of fibroblast growth factor 2 (FGF2) [3,4]. Previous work from our lab has shown that retina regeneration depends on FGF2 binding to its receptor FGFR. This interaction activates the proliferation of neural progenitors from the CM by triggering Mitogen-Activated Protein Kinase (MAPK) signaling, allowing retina regeneration, however, it is unknown whether MAPK is also required for RPE reprogramming [5]. We hypothesized that the MAPK signaling pathway is essential for the RPE reprogramming.

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