# Construction and stability of photoreceptor outer segment discs

> **NIH NIH R01** · UPSTATE MEDICAL UNIVERSITY · 2020 · $442,059

## Abstract

Project summary
The objectives of this proposal are to determine the mechanisms of photoreceptor disc membrane
elaboration. Disc membranes are the central organelles for vision where photons are absorbed
and phototransduction ensues. Devastating blinding disease manifest as disruptions in orderly
stacks of outer segment discs, showing that maintaining this order is essential to photoreceptor
health and function. A key element to disc formation is the close juxtaposition of the intradiscal
membrane faces, which are only a few nanometers apart. This apposition is highly energetically
unfavorable and thus produces an energy barrier that must be overcome for discs to form. Finding
out how this energy barrier is overcome is important for understanding rod and cone outer
segment elaboration and stability. We will use state of the art live cell fluorescence imaging tools
developed in our lab, powerful transgenic and gene editing techniques in Xenopus and
biochemical and cell biological approaches to address the following aims:
Aim 1: Determine the roles of opsin dimers or higher order oligomers in forming and maintaining
rod and cone photoreceptor discs.
Aim 2: Determine the roles of opsin N-glycosylation in generating and maintaining rod and cone
photoreceptor discs.
Aim 3: Determine the contributions of membrane charge shielding by electrolytes to rod and cone
disc formation and stability.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 9850571
- **Project number:** 5R01EY028303-03
- **Recipient organization:** UPSTATE MEDICAL UNIVERSITY
- **Principal Investigator:** Peter Deane Calvert
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $442,059
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2018-04-01 → 2023-01-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/9850571

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 9850571, Construction and stability of photoreceptor outer segment discs (5R01EY028303-03). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-23 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/9850571. Licensed CC0.

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