DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): This is a proposal for a five-year mentored career development training program for Paul Yang, MD, PhD, at the Casey Eye Institute (CEI) at Oregon Health & Science University (OHSU). Dr. Yang is a newly- appointed assistant professor at CEI, who cares for patients with retinal degeneration from genetic or immune- mediated etiology. His goal as a clinician scientist is to better understand these diseases in an effort to bring novel treatments to patients. While Dr. Yang has a background in neurophysiology and strong clinical experience in ocular immunology and ophthalmic genetics, a K08 award at this time would be crucial to supporting the mentorship and postdoctoral training necessary for him to master the knowledge and skills required for bringing a novel treatment from bench to bedside. OHSU is one of the premier NIH-funded institutions committed to providing a rich academic environment for the support and development of clinician scientists, such as Dr. Yang. As a reflection of this commitment to the mentorship of physician scientists, there have been three recipients of the K08 career development award within the last 5 years at the CEI. The CEI is not only a center of clinical excellence, but also a leader in the development of cutting-edge translational research for the diagnosis and treatment of retinal degeneration. The Translational Clinical Trials Center (TCTC) is a unique aspect of the CEI that would have the capacity to facilitate the path of novel treatments, such as those proposed in this study, from preclinical evaluation into clinical trials. The proposed training program is composed of a translational research component and a clinical component involving the TCTC. The two eminent scientists at OHSU with complementary expertise in the use of techniques to study retinal degeneration in small animal models are Catherine Morgans, PhD and Robert Duvoisin, PhD, who will serve as research mentors to Dr. Yang. Concurrently, Richard Weleber, MD will serve as clinical mentor to Dr. Yang. With over thirty-five years of experience studying inherited retinal degeneration and as a founding member of the TCTC, Dr. Weleber will provide clinical training and guidance in the evaluation of preclinical data to the development and conduct of clinical trials for inherited retinal degeneration. Dr. Yang will be a mentored-member of the TCTC. Together, Drs. Morgans, Duvoisin, and Weleber are perfectly matched to provide Dr. Yang with the breadth of practical and intellectual training required to achieve the objectives and goals of the proposed research and career development training program. The proposed research will be to develop novel therapies to slow or halt retinal degeneration in retinitis pigmentosa (RP), which will have a potentially significant impact on public health as RP is the most commonly inherited cause of untreatable blindness in young adults. While RP is a heterogeneous genetic disorder, t...