Ectopic Melanopsin for Visual Restoration: Compressed Cell-Specific Promotors - a Translatable Delivery Mechanism

Exogenous expression of Melanopsinrenders neural cells sensitive to light. It is a prime candidate forclinical optogenetic approachesto visual restoration,especially when applied to theneuroretinal tissue surviving ininherited retinal degenerations (IRDs). We previously demonstrated that targeting expression of melanopsin to retinal ON-bipolar cells, using a transgenic ‘Cre.lox' model, led to the restoration of more naturalistic response characteristics in an IRD. However, an alternativeclinically translatable mechanism of targeting melanopsin is required to allow therapeutic use.