Looking Forward @ Johns Hopkins: Jeremy Nathans

Description

Jeremy Nathans, a professor of molecular biology and genetics, neuroscience, and ophthalmology at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and an investigator at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, will give a Looking Forward @ Johns Hopkins lecture entitled "X-chromosome Inactivation, Color Vision, and the Female Advantage."

Nathans uses molecular genetic approaches to study the development of the mammalian retina and embryo. He is responsible for landmark discoveries that have changed our understanding of how humans see the world.

Over the past 30 years, Nathans has focused on the intersection of human genetics, ophthalmology, retinal cell biology, developmental neuroscience, and evolution. His research focuses on molecular and cellular mechanisms of visual system development, function, and disease. His investigations into the mechanisms that allow us to see colors led him to identify the genes that code for color-vision receptors in the light-sensing cones of the retina. This breakthrough finding allowed him to show that variations in these genes cause color blindness. His work has also led to new understandings of the development, function, and survival of the retina. The Nathans laboratory is currently focused on several broad and related areas of research: (1) neural and vascular development, with a special emphasis on the blood-retina and blood-brain barriers, and (2) the role of Frizzled receptors in mammalian development.