Looking at photoreceptors in healthy and diseased retinas
Assessing Photoreceptor Structure and Function in Normal and Diseased Retinae
This project uses advanced, noninvasive imaging to look at the tiny light-sensing cells in the retina to understand how they change in eye diseases.
Quick facts
| Grant type | R01 grant |
|---|---|
| Study type | NIH-funded research |
| Funding institution | Medical College of Wisconsin NIH-funded |
| Lab location | 1 site (Milwaukee, United States) |
| Project ID | NIH-11131295 on NIH RePORTER |
What this research studies
You would get noninvasive, high-resolution eye imaging—including adaptive optics—that can visualize individual photoreceptor cells. Researchers are studying both people with inherited and acquired retinal diseases as well as healthy volunteers to compare how photoreceptors look and behave. They combine detailed structural pictures with tests of how the cells function to map where and how vision loss starts. The team aims to use these measures to help guide who might benefit from new treatments and to track whether those treatments are helping at the cellular level.
Who could benefit from this research
Good fit: Ideal candidates include people with inherited retinal degenerations or other vision-limiting retinal diseases, and sometimes healthy volunteers for comparison.
Not a fit: People whose vision loss is due to non-retinal causes (for example optic nerve or brain-related vision loss) or who cannot undergo high-resolution retinal imaging (due to dense cataract or unstable fixation) may not benefit.
Why it matters
Potential benefit: If successful, this work could help doctors detect early cellular damage, match patients to promising therapies, and measure whether treatments are restoring photoreceptor function.
How similar studies have performed: High-resolution retinal imaging has successfully visualized photoreceptors in prior studies, while combining single-cell structure with functional measures is a newer but promising approach.
Where this research is happening
Milwaukee, United States
- Medical College of Wisconsin — Milwaukee, United States (Active)
Researchers
- Principal investigator: Carroll, Joseph — Medical College of Wisconsin
- Study coordinator: Carroll, Joseph
About this research
- This is an active NIH-funded research project — typically early-stage science, not a clinical trial accepting patient enrollment.
- Some NIH-funded labs run parallel clinical studies or seek volunteers for related work. To check, contact the principal investigator or institution listed above.
- For full project details, budget, and progress reports, visit the official NIH RePORTER page below.