Dr Arjuna Ratnayaka brings together expertise in retinal cell biology and neurodegeneration. His group at Southampton studies the molecular mechanisms underlying degenerative processes in the senescent retina and brain.

Current studies exploit in-vitro cell models of the retina including donor iPSCs to understand the mechanisms of membrane trafficking, proteostasis and autophagy. High-resolution microscopy and 3D-imaging combined with novel molecular tools and AI/algorithms, seek to unravel details of dynamic and temporal events in these processes, and how they become impaired with age and disease.

  • 3D-reconstructed lysosomal population (green) in retinal pigment epithelial (RPE) cells. Nucleus labelled with DAPI appear in blue.
  • Internalised oligomeric Amyloid-beta (green) is rapidly trafficked to co-localise in lysosomes (red) and appear as yellow puncta in retinal pigment epithelial (RPE) cells.