Stylianos Michalakis
CHEMISTRY
Institut Pasteur de Bangui
Germany
Biography
PD Dr. Stylianos Michalakis Group leader, Pharmakologie für Naturwissenschaften Butenandtstraße 7 81377 München, My focus is on understanding disease mechanisms and developing treatments for inherited retinal diseases. In addition, I study epigenetic mechanisms of gene regulation in healthy and diseased neurons. I am a member of the Excellence Cluster "Center for Integrated Protein Science Munich" (http://www.cipsm.de) and a founding member of the RD-CURE consortium (http://www.rd-cure.de) that currently runs the first German ocular gene therapy trial.
Research Interest
Degenerative diseases of the retina are a major cause of blindness in the working age population and at present there is no treatment available. More than 200 genes causing inherited retinal diseases have been identified. In most cases a photoreceptor-specific mutation first leads to a functional impairment and subsequently to progressive degeneration and cell death of photoreceptors. Our current knowledge of the pathophysiological processes underlying retinal degenerations is quite limited.
Publications
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Koch, S., et al. Gene Therapy Restores Vision and Delays Degeneration in the CNGB1-/- Mouse Model of Retinitis Pigmentosa. Hum Mol Genet Epub ahead of print July 16 (2012).
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Biel, M., et al. Selective loss of cone function in mice lacking the cyclic nucleotide-gated channel CNG3. in PNAS, Vol. 96 7553-7557 (1999).
