Retinal development is a complex and sensitive process that requires the normal function of many factors, both extrinsic and intrisnic.
Our aim is to perform a molecular analysis along retinal development and to identify factors involved in this process. The research is performed by the identification of genes that are candidates for the involvement in retinal development and studying their expression level in different retinal regions. The study involves the generation of retinal cDNA libraries and gene arrays construction and analysis.
One of the most important genes in ocular and retinal development in PAX6, which is the master gene for ocular development in many species. This gene undergoes an alternative-splicing process producing different mRNA molecules with differential function in the development of different ocular tissues.