Cell fusion-mediated therapy to regenerate human retinae

Retinitis Pigmentosa (RP) affects 1 in 3,500 individuals, who undergo progressive loss of vision and for which there is no cure. Regeneration of photoreceptors in RP mice and of ganglion and amacrine neurons in damaged mouse retinae is possible after cell‐to‐cell fusion of Wnt‐activated bone marrow‐derived stem cells transplanted into the mouse retina. Thus, this project aims to test the efficacy of this process as a therapeutic approach to be tested in human retinae cultured in vitro. The study will therefore investigate fusion of human adult stem cells with Müller glia cells and whether cell fusion-derived hybrids are able to differentiate into functional retinal neurons.