# Restoration of Visual Function by Mammalian Light-Activated Receptors

> **NIH NIH F32** · UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA BERKELEY · 2020 · $67,446

## Abstract

Project Summary/Abstract
Inherited retinal degenerative diseases affect approximately 3.5 million people worldwide. Retinitis Pigmentosa
(RP) causes progressive degeneration of rod and cone photoreceptor cells, resulting in the complete loss of
vision. Nevertheless, surviving retinal neurons downstream of photoreceptor cells provide an exciting entry
point for therapy. Several approaches including the use of microbial opsins and implanted electrode arrays
within these downstream cell types have restored useful features of vision, however, low light-sensitivity,
invasiveness, and poor resolution, describe some of the challenges of these methods. The research proposed
here, seeks to dramatically advance vision restoration using a novel optogenetic approach based on native
retinal receptors that support vision of natural scenes at natural intensities, without the need for an
exogenously applied photoswitch. This will be done using a combination of experimental techniques including
molecular biology, AAV-mediated gene transfer, multielectrode array recordings, two-electrode voltage-clamp
electrophysiology, and visually-guided behavioral assays. Several native retinal light sensors, rhodopsin and
melanopsin, have been ectopically expressed by our lab and others in remaining retinal cells of a mouse model
of human RP. While these studies elegantly demonstrate the efficacy of converting retinal cells lacking intrinsic
photosensitivity into functional pseudo-photoreceptor cells with high light sensitivity, and capable of restoring
basic features of vision, both receptors suffer from kinetics too slow to support vision in motion. The research
plan describes a method to uniquely combine both sensitivity comparable to that of rhodopsin, together with
speed, in neurons of the inner retina that survive for decades following photoreceptor cell loss. This effort will
provide crucial insight on the most essential components required for meaningful, complex visual restoration
and a potential foundation for future treatments of inherited retinal degenerative diseases.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 9989855
- **Project number:** 5F32EY029143-03
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA BERKELEY
- **Principal Investigator:** Autoosa Salari
- **Activity code:** F32 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $67,446
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2018-04-12 → 2021-04-11

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/9989855

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 9989855, Restoration of Visual Function by Mammalian Light-Activated Receptors (5F32EY029143-03). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-23 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/9989855. Licensed CC0.

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