Leinonen Retina Laboratory participated in the International Symposium on Retinal Degeneration (RD2025) in Prague, one of the field’s leading scientific meetings bringing together experts in retinal biology, genetics, and therapy development.
Henri Leinonen delivered a platform talk in the Mechanisms of Degeneration session, presenting new findings on how female sex accelerates retinal degeneration in murine retinitis pigmentosa (RP) models through lipid peroxidation-driven stress pathways. The talk highlighted emerging evidence that sex-specific metabolic and oxidative environments may shape disease progression, an angle increasingly recognized as essential for both mechanistic understanding and therapeutic design.
Doctoral researcher Anthi-Styliani Makiou presented her poster Survey of α- and β-blockers against retinal degeneration, showcasing the lab’s ongoing systems-pharmacology efforts to identify GPCR-targeting drug combinations capable of reducing cell stress signalling in RP.
The meeting’s rich program – spanning gene therapy, organoid disease modeling, neuroprotection, AMD research, and computational approaches – offered an excellent opportunity to exchange ideas with leaders in the field and strengthen international collaborations.
We hope to participate in this biannual meeting again in 2027!