INTRODUCTION

Retinal degenerations are common diseases that touched an important percentage of the world population. These diseases are classified in different classes including retinitis pigmentosa, macular degenerations, diabetic retinopathy, and some other rare diseases. The general effect of these disease is an alteration of photoreceptor homeostasis leading to the death of photoreceptors and consequently to the loss of visual function. The most severe cases of these diseases result in blindness. The prevalence of retinal pigmentosa in the world is around 1/4000. In the case of macular degeneration, this disease is generally observed with age starting to degenerate at around 55 years of age. At 80, 30% of the population is markedly attained by such degeneration. No treatments exist to prevent or cure these diseases leading to blindness. However, several scientific results indicate that genetic factors are involved in these diseases. In consequence by studying these genes, it is potentially possible to fight blindness


GENERAL GOALS

To understand the mechanisms at the origin of retinal degeneration, develop gene therapy to delay or prevent the appearance of blindness, and study the potential of cell transplantation to restore vision.