Pierre Mattar

Retinal glia regulate development of the circadian photoentrainment circuit Circadian photoentrainment depends on intrinsically photosensitive retinal ganglion cells (ipRGCs), which convey environmental light information to th…

Our latest paper is out! While the circadian photoentrainment circuit has been extensively studied, the mechanisms regulating its development remain poorly understood. Here we show that retinal Müller glia play a key role in this process. Check it out! www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Thanks Anna!!

New preprints from the lab (3)! www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Genetic tuning of retinal ganglion cell subtype identity to drive visual behavior Nature Communications - This study reveals that graded expression of the transcription factor BRN3B fine-tunes the identity and function of melanopsin-expressing ipRGC subtypes in the retina....

Our paper is out today! In @tiffmschmidt.bsky.social lab, we identified a single transcription factor, BRN3B, that shapes multiple, key features that define diverse ipRGC subtypes🧬👁️🐭

Very cool story!!! Congrats!!!

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New preprints from the lab!! (2)

Novel Roles of Sonic Hedgehog Signaling in Retinal Patterning and Neurogenesis During Mammalian Eye Development The Sonic Hedgehog (Shh) signaling pathway is essential for the patterning, growth, and morphogenesis of many tissues. During early eye development, Shh is critical for the formation of the two optic ...

🎉 New preprints from the lab! (1) www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Preventing Blindness by Untangling the Genetic Network of Vision Neurons Dr. Joel Miesfeld’s lab studies the mechanisms behind retinal ganglion cells to better understand vision development.

A big thanks to the NEI for supporting my new R01 and MCW for highlighting the research focus. We’ve already made some interesting discoveries and I’m excited to see how the research progresses for years to come. www.mcw.edu/mcwknowledge...

Active DNA demethylation upstream of rod-photoreceptor fate determination is required for retinal development TET enzymes remove DNA methylation markers, but the role of this process in retinal development is not clear. This study shows that these enzymes are required for photoreceptor cells to initiate the g...

Happy to share the definitive version of our last paper about the role of TET enzymes and DNA demethylation in retinal development @clark-lab-retina.bsky.social journals.plos.org/plosbiology/...

Our work on the TET enzymes in retinal development is out. We identified that rod fate is inhibited when DNA demethylation is prevented by removal of the TET enzymes. Interestingly, photoreceptor numbers are normal. We utilized WGBS and bACE-seq to profile the precise localization of 5mC and 5hmC,…

Left: The active DNA methylation cycle. (i) 5mC is added by DNMTs. (ii) The TET enzymes oxidize 5mC to 5hmC. (iii) 5hmC is converted to 5fC and 5caC by the TET enzymes, followed by conversion back to cytosine by TDG and the base-excision repair pathway. (iv) Alternatively, APOBEC converts 5mC to thymine, causing DNA mismatch. Right: H&E staining of an allelic series of TET conditional P21 mutants.

TET enzymes remove #DNAmethylation markers; @ismaelhdeznunez.bsky.social @clark-lab-retina.bsky.social &co show that these enzymes are required for #photoreceptor cells to initiate the genetic program to become rods instead of cones, & for maturation of the #retina @plosbiology.org 🧪 plos.io/3UaVBfl

Woohoo!!!!

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Fantastic! Congratulations!!!!

Mef2c Controls Postnatal Callosal Axon Targeting by Regulating Sensitivity to Ephrin Repulsion Intracortical circuits, including long-range callosal projections, are crucial for information processing. The development of neuronal connectivity in the cerebral cortex is contingent on ordered emer...

If you're interested in how Mef2c tunes neuronal response to repulsive guidance cues in the cortex, here's a link to the paper: www.jneurosci.org/content/45/2...

I loved your paper - it’s truly awesome!!!

Fantastic day!!!! Thanks Kristen and Monica!

Excluding the Genomic Location of Pax2 Regulatory Elements for the Developing Mouse Eye - PubMed The Pax2 transcription factor is activated uniformly in the optic vesicle/cup, but becomes progressively restricted to the forming optic disc and stalk. In the eye, it is not known how Pax2 expression...

So you want to study the optic nerve head. You’re thinking a Pax2-Cre driver should work, right? Well, think again: pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/40300047/

Heterochronic transcription factor expression drives cone-dominant retina development in 13-lined ground squirrels. Evolutionary adaptation to diurnal vision in ground squirrels has led to the development of a cone-dominant retina, in stark contrast to the rod-dominant retinas of most mammals. The molecular mechani...

Our latest manuscript (7 years in the works) tackles the question of how diurnal ground squirrels evolved a cone-dominant retina, in contrast to the ancestral rod-dominant retina retained by virtually all other mammals./1
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Hendrich Group - Starting Sept 2025 - Living Systems Institute - University of Exeter Opportunity for LSI PHD studentship – starting in September 2025 or January 2026 PhD Studentship applications will open on 1st...

Funded PhD Studentship available in my lab at @lsiexeter.bsky.social.
Want to study how chromatin remodellers act on enhancers to facilitate cell fate decisions in human pluripotent cells? Want to work and live in a lively city by the sea? Get in touch/Apply!
lsi.exeter.ac.uk/groups/hendr...

Congratulations!!! (Also yum!!)

I'm supporting Your Columbia! Your Columbia is your opportunity to be a part of the unparalleled research, education, and clinical care that takes place every day at Columbia University Irving Medical Center. It’s a potent and imp...

My lab studies mechanisms of pediatric glaucoma and the development of tissues affected (Schlemm's canal and trabecular meshwork). I am getting creative with fundraising because, well... So if you know someone who might be interested in funding our work: joinus.cuimc.columbia.edu/index.cfm?fu...

After injury some RGCs survive but do they thrive? In this collaboration with Jonathan Demb's lab (Yale), we looked into the physiology of resilient RGCs after axon injury. Their visual responses largely remain intact but they exhibit reduced intrinsic excitability, coincident with AIS disassembly.

Thanks for your interest! The thesis is not corrected yet. The initial data chapter was published already (www.nature.com/articles/s41...). We're hoping to preprint the bulk of the rest of the thesis in the coming few months.

Momentous day yesterday as Ivana Herrera successfully defended her doctoral thesis. Huge congratulations to her (seated center). Very proud of her!

UCL – University College London UCL is consistently ranked as one of the top ten universities in the world (QS World University Rankings 2010-2022) and is No.2 in the UK for research power (Research Excellence Framework 2021).

We’re hiring a new research fellow. Come join us in London to study glial cells in the ageing retina using killifish as a model. www.ucl.ac.uk/work-at-ucl/...

Congrats Michel and team (and Zack!!)