The vertebrate retina is a complex, laminated sensory organ. It consists of multiple neuronal cell types and subtypes which synapse on each other to detect visual information, refine it, and transmit it to the brain. The past two decades of work have led to important findings in retinal development, including the developmental relationships between cell types and the role of gene expression in cellular identity. While this research is broadly applicable to the study of neuronal development, a stronger understanding of retinal development also has implications for understanding congenital retinal defects and developing stem cell-based therapies to restore lost vision. Accomplishing this requires further study into how diverse retinal cell types are specified and how their precise synaptic connections are established.

This collection aims to highlight methods of studying retinal cell fate and circuitry development in a variety of models such as zebrafish, Xenopus, mouse, and chick. Flow cytometry, immunohistochemistry and electrophysiology have all been applied to studies of retinal development. The field of retinal development has also made use of genetics and molecular biology through gene expression methods such as RNA-seq, analysis of chromatin accessibility and epigenetic markers throughout development, and reporter-based assays of regulatory element activity. The goal is to provide a clear overview of important methods used to determine how retinal cell types and sub-types are specified from developing populations and how they establish the connections required for a functioning visual system.