About our Work

Established by Dr. Badea between NEI and Transilvania University for the purpose of supporting Visual Neuroscience and Ophthalmology research at UnitBv. NEI provided Dr. Badea's laboratory equipment (Microscopy, physiology, visual behavior), collection of genetically modified mouse lines (21 lines, about half generated by Dr. Badea at the NEI or Hopkins) and specific reagent collections (plasmids, probes, antibodies, cell lines). UnitBv financed the building and equipment of the BEAM facility, as well as most of the equipment of the Molecular Genetics and Neuroscience Laboratory. Student exchanges and common projects are planned.

We aim to understand the development, function, and pathology of central high acuity vision. In humans, high visual acuity is provided by the fovea, a specialized retinal structure, in which visual information flows in one-to-one fashion from cone photoreceptors to bipolar cells and high-resolution Retinal Ganglion Cells (RGCs). The modest progress in understanding the fovea and treating its disorders is due in part to the lack of a genetically accessible mammalian model. We have recently discovered an area of high visual acuity (Area Centralis, ArCe) in the mouse, and will explore its function and development, to establish it as a pathogenetic and therapeutic model for central vision and high visual acuity RGC defects. We will use unique genetically modified mouse lines we developed to identify the RGCs of the ArCe, determine their brain projections and participation in binocular vision, and study the developmental history and molecular mechanisms of ArCe formation. We will apply visually guided behavior tests to mice with genetic ablation of the ArCe in order to identify its involvement in visual function. The results will provide us with an animal model for studying pathogenetic mechanisms and therapeutic approaches for high visual acuity central visual defects. In addition, the gained insights will pave the way for current efforts in retina repair based on stem cell or reprograming efforts, by discovering the necessary developmental steps and molecular requirements.