Center for Hereditary Retinal Degenerations

Our Center aims to provide better sight for people living with inherited retinal diseases (IRDs) such as retinitis pigmentosa, Stargardt disease, Leber congenital amaurosis, blue cone monochromacy, choroideremia and many others. Co-director Dr. Aleman provides clinical care to IRD patients who carry the burden of progressive vision loss that is currently not treatable. Co-directors Dr. Cideciyan and Dr. Aleman perform world-class research in clinical trials and in the laboratory to make progress towards treatments.

ARVO 2026 Conference - Denver, CO

Sunday, May 3, 2026 - Thursday, May 7, 2026

At one of the largest eye and vision international conferences, CHRD is busy getting ready for the ARVO meeting where our investigators and collaborators will be presenting 18 different subjects covering gene therapy to translational research.

The list below provides information on some of the presentations:

Artur V. Cideciyan, Ph.D.

Safety and Efficacy of ATSN-101 in Patients with Leber Congenital Amaurosis caused by Biallelic Variants in GUCY2D (LCA1): Durability Through 3 Years Post-treatment

Wednesday, May 6th, 2026 | Location: Mile High 4E | 2:45 pm - 3:00 pm

Tomas S. Aleman, M.D.

Restoration of Cone-Mediated Vision After Gene Augmentation in Children with LCA5

Thursday, May 7th, 2026 | Location: Bluebird Ballroom 1B | 12:15 pm - 12:30 pm

Alejandro J. Roman, M.S.

Use of Response Time in the Interpretation of Full-field Stimulus Test (FST)

Sunday, May 3rd, 2026 | Location: Poster Hall | 1:00 pm - 2:45 pm

Vivian Wu, M.S.

Measuring Rod- and Cone-Photoreceptor–Specific Sensitivity with the Full-field Stimulus Test (FST) in Inherited Retinal Diseases

Sunday, May 3rd, 2026 | Location: Poster Hall | 1:00 pm - 2:45 pm

Erin O'Neil, M.D.

Behavioral Assessment of Rod and Cone Sensitivity in Young Patients with Inherited Retinal Disease: Development of Pediatric Dark-adapted Stimulus Test (PDST)

Sunday, May 3rd, 2026 | Location: Poster Hall | 1:00 pm - 2:45 pm

Mariejel L. Weber, B.S.

Natural History of Leber Congenital Amaurosis Associated with Pathogenic Variants in Lebercillin (LCA5): Cross-Sectional and Longitudinal Observations

Tuesday, May 5th, 2026 | Location: Poster Hall | 1:15 pm - 3:00 pm

Alexander Sumaroka, Ph.D.

Early Features of ABCA4-associated Stargardt Disease (ABCA4-STGD) in the Extrafoveal Perilesional Retina

Tuesday, May 5th, 2026 | Location: Poster Hall | 3:30 pm - 5:15 pm

Malgorzata Swider, Ph.D.

Effect of Gene Therapy on Transient Pupillary Light Reflex (TPLR): Comparison of Rod- versus Cone-driven Sensitivity Improvements

Wednesday, May 6th, 2026 | Location: Poster Hall | 10:15 am - 12:00 pm

Alexandra V. Garafalo, M.Eng.

Modified Multi-Luminance Mobility Test (modMLMT) to Evaluate Therapeutic Benefit to Night Vision Mediated by Rod Photoreceptors

Wednesday, May 6th, 2026 | Location: Poster Hall | 2:00 pm - 3:45 pm

Valérie L. Dufour, DVM, DECVO, DACVO

Nonclinical efficacy and toxicity study of GMP-grade vector OPGx-RHO (scAAV2/5-RHO820-shRNA820) delivered by subretinal injection in a canine model of RHO-adRP

Thursday, May 7th, 2026 | Location: Poster Hall | 11:45 am - 1:30 pm