Murine embryonic retinal explants are used as an ex vivo model of retinal development. These are treated with small molecule agonists or antagonists for the Somatostatin receptor type 2 and PKA pathway. The impacts of these perturbations are assessed using qPCR, immunostaining, and, eventually, single cell RNA sequencing. Somatostatin is suspected by the lab to be involved in regulating photoreceptor cell type specification in the developing retina.

Hibernation’s impact on 13-lined ground squirrel retinal transcriptome:

Bulk RNA-sequencing data provided by collaborators at Case-Western University is used to explore the changes in gene expression that occur in the retina of 13-lined ground squirrels as they progress through the stages of hibernation.