Topic: Retinal development

Robert J Johnston joins Jonathan McCrea to explain retinal organoids and how researchers grow these laboratory models of the retina. Drawing on his work at Johns Hopkins University, Johnston discusses what the models can offer basic and translational research, how industry views their use, and whether they could become a standard approach for studying retinal disease. The conversation examines the research potential of lab-grown retinas rather than presenting them as an established treatment.

Classification of neurons, long viewed as a fairly boring enterprise, has emerged as a major bottleneck in analysis of neural circuits. High throughput single cell RNA-seq has provided a new way to improve the situation. We initially applied this method to mouse retina, showing that its five neuronal classes (photoreceptors, three groups of interneurons, and retinal ganglion cells) can be divided into 130 discrete types. We then applied the method to other species including human, macaque, zebrafish and chick. With the atlases in hand, we are now using them to address questions about how retin