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The 2026 Visual System Development GRC and GRS are fast approaching. Jeremy Kay, Kristen Kwan, Robert Johnston, and I have built an exciting program that we hope you will enjoy. Looking forward to seeing everyone at the meeting this summer in beautiful Maine. Register and RT!

Excited to share our new manuscript from the Yoshimatsu and MacDonald labs. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6.... We found that my favourite glial cells can regulate local retinoic acid signalling to specialise cone photoreceptors for high acuity visual function.

Join us in Toronto, July 13–16 for the International Conference on Neurogenesis and Repair. Featuring keynote Dr. Jeffrey Macklis (Harvard), 13 short‑talk slots, poster sessions, and many trainee travel awards Details + registration: event.fourwaves.com/neurogenesis... Hope to see you there!

Join Neurogenesis and Repair 2026, July 13-16, 2026. Learn more on Fourwaves.

New study led by Ning Shen w/ @phruzycki.bsky.social: a genome-wide in vivo CRISPR screen in a retinitis pigmentosa mouse model identifies genes whose loss accelerates photoreceptor death. Overexpressing two, UFD1 and UXT, preserves photoreceptors, retinal function, and vision. 🧵

New paper out 🚨! Excited to share this collab between my lab and @kerschensteiner.bsky.social's group, expertly led by Ning Shen. We used a genome-wide in vivo CRISPR screen to uncover novel neuroprotective strategies in the P23H mouse retina, with validation in a new human retina culture model.

Happy to announce that our latest paper is now out! Have you ever wondered how neural tissues control their size? In this paper, we show that cell division orientation is critical in both the cortex and retina. www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

A fundamental role for division orientation in progenitor output driving cortical and retinal growth is revealed.

The lab's first paper of the new year is out. In it, we investigate the role of the late stage retinal progenitor-enriched SoxE family factors Sox8 and Sox9 in controlling retinal development./1 www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

Excited to share our new paper! This work explores how Sonic hedgehog signaling helps coordinate retinal patterning and neurogenesis, including regulation of both cell cycle exit and progenitor competence during mammalian eye development journals.biologists.com/dev/article/...

I'm excited to share our PNAS paper from 1st author Kasia Hussey. We study how the foveola, the high acuity region of the retina, is patterned by RA and TH. We were surprised to find that cone subtypes appear to convert fates. Our studies are important for AMD sufferers. www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...

Daniel Kerschensteiner

Temporal patterning of retinal progenitor cells governs the sequential generation of retinal cell types, with gliogenesis occurring late in development. Sox8 and Sox9, members of the SoxE transcription factor family, are highly expressed in late-stage retinal progenitor cells and mature Müller glia, yet their functional roles remain incompletely defined. Here we employed gain- and loss-of-function approaches, single-cell multiomic profiling, and injury models to investigate Sox8/9 function. Overexpression of SOX8 and/or SOX9 in early-stage retinal progenitor cells suppressed early-born cell fates and promoted photoreceptor generation, consistent with a role in late-stage temporal identity. Conversely, conditional deletion of Sox8 and/or Sox9 in late-stage progenitors did not impair Müller glia specification, but caused radial displacement of Müller glia nuclei into the outer retina and modest changes in glial gene expression. Loss of Sox8/9 in mature Müller glia modestly increased proliferation post-injury without inducing neurogenic competence. These findings suggest that Sox8/9 are dispensable for gliogenesis and repression of neurogenic competence, but are essential for proper laminar positioning and maturation of retinal Müller glia. ### Competing Interest Statement S.B. is a cofounder, shareholder, and scientific advisory board member of CDI Labs LLC, and receives research support from Genentech. National Eye Institute, https://ror.org/03wkg3b53, R01EY036173

New paper out! 🚨 We show that Ndufs4 loss triggers retinal neurodegeneration through a phased process. A new window into neuroimmune mechanisms in mitochondrial disease: link.springer.com/article/10.1...

journals.biologists.com

In the central region of the human retina, the high-acuity foveola is notable for its dense packing of green (M) and red (L) cones and absence of b...

Summary: Temporal disruption of sonic hedgehog signaling reveals stage-specific roles in eye cup patterning and in regulating proliferation, progenitor competence and fate specification during retinal...

Journal of Neuroinflammation - Mitochondrial dysfunction is a central hallmark of many optic neuropathies, yet the mechanisms linking intrinsic metabolic stress to retinal ganglion cell (RGC)...

Shen et al. combine a genome-wide CRISPR screen in mice with an adult human retina model to identify broadly protective gene therapies for retinitis pigmentosa. They show that boosting UFD1 or UXT preserves photoreceptors and vision by helping the retina withstand stress from misfolded proteins.