School of Medicine

Department of Ophthalmology

Current Research

Retinitis Pigmentosa and Macular Degeneration

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Dr. Nicolas Bazan has been investigating the fundamental phenomena of retinal degeneration for more than a decade. In his laboratories, the pathways and mechanisms that regulate the cycle of decay and renewal of the basic visual cells, the photoreceptors, are being studied. With more intimate knowledge of the signals and messengers that control gene transcription in the retinal pigment epithelium (the cell layer that contains the photoreceptors), especially as a function of age, it may eventually be possible to design drugs for the prevention and treatment of age-related macular degeneration and other degenerative retinal diseases such as retinitis pigmentosa. Laboratory testing of drugs that are protective of the neurosensory retina has shown promising results.