Gennadiy Moiseyev, PhD

Biography

Dr. Moiseyev earned his PhD in Chemistry from Engelhardt Institute of Molecular Biology, Moscow. Later he pursued postdoctoral training at the Medical University of South Carolina Charleston SC. Dr. Moiseyev joined OUHSC as an Assistant Professor of Research in 2003. His work is focused on mechanisms and therapeutic strategies for inherited retinal diseases such as Leber Congenital amaurosis, retinitis pigmentosa and Stargardt’s disease. These retinal diseases are linked in structural changes in visual cycle proteins. Most of his work in the last 20 years was devoted to studies of visual cycle.
In 2003 Dr. Moiseyev established that retinyl ester is a substrate for retinoid isomerase. This finding helped him to finally identify RPE65 protein as a long-sought retinoid isomerase in 2005. Later, he was able to demonstrate retinoid isomerase activity for purified RPE65 and that iron is essential for its activity. Moreover, his recent work suggests that visual cycle proteins and retinoids may also be involved in the development of diabetic retinopathy.

Email

Gennadiy-Moiseyev@ouhsc.edu

Additional Websites

• Publications

Research Interests:

Visual pigments of retina photoreceptors consist of 11-cis retinal chromophore covalently attached by Schiff base bonds to opsin proteins. The process of vision is initiated by photochemical reactions in photoreceptors resulting in isomerization of 11-cis retinal chromophores to all-trans retinal. The latter is then reduced to all-trans retinol and transported in retinal pigment epithelium (RPE). The photoisomerisation of retinal in the retina triggers the phototransduction cascade. Efficient recycling of the 11-cis retinal chromophore in rhodopsin is absolutely necessary to support normal vision. This 11-cis retinal chromophore regeneration proceeds through the series of enzymatic reactions of retinoids in the RPE. We study the enzymes of the visual cycle, especially RPE65 protein which is crucial for reverse isomerization of all-trans retinyl ester to 11-cis retinol. Mutations in the RPE 65 gene results in severe retinal degenerations and early-onset blindness. The goal of the work is to establish the physiological role of RPE65 and the mechanism of its action.