Distorted retina

40x magnification of a retina from a 1-month old transgenic zebrafish that has been flattened (not perfectly but it made a cool image) and imaged by confocal microscopy. The transgenic zebrafish has green and red fluorescent proteins that are expressed in cone photoreceptors (light sensitive cells responsible for color vision) to report the expression of either long wave sensitive 1 (lws1) opsin or long wave sensitive 2 (lws2) opsin respectively. When we treat the zebrafish with thyroid hormone the normal expression of the red fluorescent protein (lws2) switches to the green protein (lws1). Yellow cells are expressing both. This work is important for our understanding of gene regulation in the visual system. These findings are highly likely to contribute to the development/refinement of novel treatments and therapies for visual disorders.