Generation and maintenance of Retinitis Pigmentosa disease models for testing cGMP analogs

It was previously shown that the signalling molecule cyclic guanosine-3’-5’-mono-phosphate (cGMP) in photoreceptors cause cell death and consequently blindness. The project tests a new compound and a delivery system, LP-CN03, which delayed the degenerative process and preserved photoreceptors in three animal models of retinitis pigmentosa. For that, student will support maintenance of  different retinal degeneration models that have early and late degeneration profiles. These are rd1, rd10, and rd2 mouse lines. Rd1 and rd10 mice have different mutations in the Pde6b gene and the rd2 mouse carries a mutation in the Prph2 gene. Student will contribute to basic lab procedures including toe biopsy, PCR genotyping, OCT and Fundus imaging as well as several basic molecular biology techniques.