Invertebrate and Vertebrate Eye Development: 93 (Current Topics in Developmental Biology)

Vision is our primary sensory modality, and we are naturally curious as to how the visual system assembles. The visual system is in many ways remarkably simple, a repeating assemblage of neurons and support cells that parse the visual field through precision and redundancy. Through this simplicity the eye has often led the way in our exploration of how an organ is assembled. Eye development has therefore long been a favorite for exploring mechanisms of cell fate choice, patterning and cell signaling.

This volume, which is part of the Current Topics in Developmental Biology series, highlights the exceptional advances over the past 20 years. Chapters emphasize our knowledge of transcription factors and how these generate networks to direct the eye field and associated structures. Topics such as cell fate specification are also explored, along with the potential of Drosophila as a model for lens formation and the progress made in using the Drosophila eye to examine planar cell polarity.

• Contributions from researchers who are active in identifying new paradigms to explore
• Review of our current state of knowledge
• Chapters written by authors with a new generation approach that takes a more systems approach to identifying factors and better defines cell subtypes

Dr. Reh is Professor of Biological Structure and Director of the Neurobiology and Behavior Program at the University of Washington. He is currently a member of the Scientific Advisory Board of the Foundation Fighting Blindness, and of a start-up biotechnology company, Acucela. He has received several awards for his work, including the AHFMR and Sloan Scholar awards and has published over 100 journal articles, reviews and books. Funded by numerous N.I.H. and private foundation grants, his lab is focused on the development and repair of the retina, with an overall goal of understanding the cellular and molecular biology of regeneration in the eye.