Optogenetics for vision restoration: toward clinical trials, by Gregory Gauvain

The number of people in the audience will be reduced. Please fill the following google sheet with your initials to help us estimate how many people plan to attend the seminar:

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1dngXwQHir8RbehZ0VoMPzABdhdcHCwSg3zkWfywdz20/edit#gid=0

Note: For the ones who cannot attend, live streaming will be available here:
https://direct.u-paris.fr/lives -> Saint Germain -> Salle de conférence

Summary

Using vector and genetic constructs most suitable for vision restoration in patients with retinopathies, we have demonstrated temporal resolution compatible with highly dynamic visual scenes and a visual acuity above legal blindness.

Gregory Gauvain is an assistant professor at Sorbonne University, working in Serge Picaud’s Team at the Vision Institute (Paris). He obtained his PhD in neuroscience (UPMC, 2009) during which he used a combination of imaging techniques (single particle tracking) and electrophysiology (perforated or whole cell patch clamp recordings) to study chloride homeostasis in hippocampal neurons. He then joined Gabe Murphy’s group (HHMI Janelia Research Campus, USA, 2010 -2014) were he was introduced to retina physiology. There he studied retinofugal projection organization in the brain, with an approach combining stereotaxic brain delivery of viral vectors, 2-photon microscopy calcium imaging and patch clamp techniques. He is currently leading a project of vision restoration using optogenetic tools in partnership with an industrial company (GeneSight Biologics). This work has led to an ongoing clinical trial combining delivery of an AAV vector encoding the microbial opsin ChrimsonR and a biomimetic stimulation device. He is now moving to a new project proposing vision restoration at the cortical level (primary visual cortex V1) through the delivery of optogenetic actuator directly into V1 neurons, or indirectly into the visual thalamus (LGN) neurons.He is also coordinator of the international master program on Vision Science co-organized between Sorbonne University and UNAM (Mexico).

Download the poster of the seminar: 2020 Gauvain