Orson Moritz

Dr. Orson Moritz is a professor in the Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences at the University of British Columbia. He studies rod and cone photoreceptors, the light-sensitive cells of the retina responsible for vision. He uses gene-manipulation techniques and animal models to examine how these cells work, and why they die in inherited retinal degenerative disorders such as retinitis pigmentosa, cone-rod dystrophy and macular degeneration, to develop drug and gene therapy-based treatments. He also investigates how environmental conditions, such as light exposure and vitamin A, influence these disorders.