Aindrila Saha
Credentials: Cellular and Molecular Biology, Department of Neuroscience (School of Medicine and Public Health)
Position title: Graduate student
Email: asaha23@wisc.edu
Advisor: Raunak Sinha, PhD
Keywords: Foveal cones, macular degeneration, photoreceptor physiology
Education
MSc 2019, Biological Sciences, NISER, Bhubaneswar, India
Research
Due to their role in high acuity central vision, the loss of foveal cones results in blindness with a debilitating effect on the quality of life in conditions like macular degeneration and other retinal degenerative disorders. Currently there are no treatments available for such conditions. Though stem cell-based replacement therapies hold much promise, their application is restricted. Ms. Saha is interested in studying the gaps in understanding of foveal cone signaling and using the foveal cones as a baseline to develop reliable and functional stem cell-derived organoids therapeutic purposes, model systems for drug testing, and for studying deficits in photoreceptor physiology in acquired and inherited macular degenerative diseases. She is also interested in the differences in synaptic transmission across photoreceptor terminals in the fovea vs periphery of primate retina.