The light-sensitive outer segment of vertebrate photoreceptor cells is a highly specialized sensory cilium packed with hundreds of flattened disc membranes, which create an extensive surface for capturing light. This organelle is renewed continuously: new discs are formed at its base each day, a process essential for photoreceptor function and long-term survival.
In this seminar, Prof. Vadim Arshavsky will present a hypothesis on how the complex architecture of the photoreceptor outer segment may have evolved from the primary cilium. He will also discuss current insights into the molecular mechanisms that shape photoreceptor disc formation, with particular attention to the role of the actin cytoskeleton in driving outer segment morphogenesis.
About the speaker
Prof. Vadim Arshavsky is the Helena Rubinstein Foundation Professor and Vice Chair of the Department of Ophthalmology at Duke University. His research focuses on the molecular mechanisms of vision, with particular interest in photoreceptor cells.
His laboratory studies how the photoreceptor outer segment, the light-sensitive organelle of rods and cones, is built, maintained and supplied with proteins required for visual signaling. A second major direction of his work connects basic photoreceptor biology with translational approaches aimed at addressing retinal degeneration caused by mutations in key photoreceptor-specific proteins.
