An oral supplement that addresses oxidative stress preserve cone mediated vision in animals models of adRP

September 12, 2025 | 10 a.m. | HNO-Lecturehall

Maureen McCall our guest from University of Louisville, US, will have a presentation on
“An oral supplement that addresses oxidative stress preserve cone mediated vision in animals models of adRP”

Research Interests: She uses electrophysiological techniques to evaluate normal retinal function, the dysfunction caused by blinding retinal diseases, and the restoration of function through a variety of therapeutic strategies. By understanding both normal retinal physiology and the changes induced by disease, she aims to design optimal therapeutic approaches and assess their ability to ameliorate disease effects.

Her work on retinitis pigmentosa (RP) focuses on this family of blinding eye diseases caused by photoreceptor degeneration. Her interest in RP centers on evaluating therapies to restore vision, either by:

1. Replacing degenerated photoreceptors with new cells—such as stem or embryonic cells—manipulated to become functional photoreceptors, or
2. Using prosthetic devices that substitute the lost photoreceptor signal with an electronic signal in response to light.

In the case of glaucoma, a disease caused by elevated intraocular pressure that leads to ganglion cell death and disrupts the link between retinal output and central visual processing, she investigates the separate and combined effects of increased pressure and aging on ganglion cells.

Her research on congenital stationary night blindness (CSNB)—a group of disorders in which signaling between rod photoreceptors and their postsynaptic targets, the rod bipolar cells, is eliminated—explores the mechanisms underlying this disruption. This loss of input disables the retinal circuits responsible for vision under dim lighting. She studies the balance between excitation and inhibition in these circuits and their normal development, with the goal of developing a targeted gene therapy to restore night vision.

She employs rodent disease models carrying mutations that mirror those found in human patients. While molecular manipulation of rodents is a standard approach, she has recently collaborated with the National Swine Resource Research Center at the University of Missouri to develop a mutant NIH miniature swine model for a common form of autosomal dominant RP (Pro23His rhodopsin mutation). Additional genetically modified miniature swine models are in development to study other retinal diseases.