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José-Alain Sahel is a French ophthalmologist and scientist. He is currently the chair of the Department of Ophthalmology at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, director of the UPMC Vision Institute, and the Eye and Ear Foundation Chair of Ophthalmology. Dr. Sahel previously led the Vision Institute (French: Institut de la Vision) in Paris, a research center associated with one of the oldest eye hospitals of Europe - Quinze-Vingts National Eye Hospital in Paris, founded in 1260. He is a pioneer in the field of artificial retina and eye regenerative therapies.^[1] He is a member of the French Academy of Sciences.

José-Alain Sahel held the chair of the Professor of Ophthalmology at the University Pierre and Marie Curie in Paris and the Professor of Biomedical Sciences (Cumberlege Chair) at University College London.^[2] He performed a research fellowship at Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary, Harvard Medical School with Professor Daniel. M. Albert and a visiting scholarship at Harvard Biological Laboratories with Professor John. E. Dowling.^{[citation needed][3]}

In October 2016, José-Alain Sahel was hired by the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine as chair of the Department of Ophthalmology, the director of the UPMC Vision Institute, and the Eye and Ear Foundation Chair of Ophthalmology.^[4] The UPMC Vision Institute headquarters is housed in the Mercy Pavilion and opened in May 2023.^[5] In this facility, clinicians and researchers are brought together under one roof, enabling collaboration and integregration of research into patient care. In addition to being the chairperson of the University of Pittsburgh Ophthalmology Department, José-Alain practices as a physician specializing in retina and vitreous disease, with a focus on inherited retinal degenerations and age-related macular degeneration.

José-Alain Sahel is a clinician-scientist conducting research on vision restoration focusing on cellular and molecular mechanisms underlying retinal degeneration, and development of treatments for currently untreatable retinal diseases.^[6] He has continued to work to understand and prevent vision loss from photoreceptor cell degeneration and developing vision restoration strategies. His clinical research works closely with experimental research such as information processing, genetic therapeutic research including modeling, evidence of pre-clinical concepts, technological developments in imaging and surgery. His research has conducted to clinical trials on retinal conditions, gene therapy, retinal prothesis, and optogenetics.^[7]

Together with his team, José-Alain Sahel worked on the conception, development, and evaluation of treatments for retinal diseases, with a focus on genetic rod-cone dystrophies,^[8] including neuroprotection, stem cells, gene therapy, pharmacology, and artificial retina.

His research contributed to demonstrate that rod photoreceptors produce a protein that rescues cone photoreceptors, thereby maintaining light-adapted and high-resolution vision. His research team along with S. Mohand-Said and Thierry Léveillard, identified the underlying signal: Rod-derieved Cone Viability Factor or RdCVF^[9] and determined its mechanisms of action as associated with the stimulation of aerobic glycolysis and antioxidant.^[10]

• Sahel, JA; Roska, B (2013). "Gene therapy for blindness". Annu Rev Neurosci. 2013: 467–88. doi:10.1146/annurev-neuro-062012-170304. PMID 23724995.^{[permanent dead link‍]}
• Jaillard, C; Mouret, A; Niepon, ML; Clérin, E; Yang, Y; Lee-Rivera, I; Aït-Ali, N; Millet-Puel, G; Cronin, T; Sedmak, T; Raffelsberger, W; Kinzel, B; Trembleau, A; Poch, O; Bennett, J; Wolfrum, U; Lledo, PM; Sahel, JA; Léveillard, T (May 2012). "Nxnl2 splicing results in dual functions in neuronal cell survival and maintenance of cell integrity". Hum Mol Genet. 21 (10): 2298–311. doi:10.1093/hmg/dds050. PMC 3664437. PMID 22343139.
• Vignal-Clermont, C; Audo, I; Sahel, JA; Paques, M (Oct 2010). "Poppers-associated retinal toxicity" (PDF). N Engl J Med. 363 (16): 1583–5. doi:10.1056/nejmc1005118. PMID 20942681.
• Busskamp, V; Duebel, J; Balya, D; Fradot, M; Viney, TJ; Siegert, S; Groner, AC; Cabuy, E; Forster, V; Seeliger, M; Biel, M; Humphries, P; Paques, M; Mohand-Said, S; Trono, D; Deisseroth, K; Sahel, JA; Picaud, S; Roska, B (2010). "Genetic Reactivation of Cone Photoreceptors Restores Visual Responses in Retinitis pigmentosa". Science. 329 (5990): 413–7. doi:10.1126/science.1190897. PMID 20576849. S2CID 916291.
• Léveillard, T; Sahel, JA (Apr 2010). "Rod-derived cone viability factor for treating blinding diseases: from clinic to redox signaling". Sci. Transl. Med. 2 (26): 26. doi:10.1126/scitranslmed.3000866. PMC 2896730. PMID 20375363.
• Yang, Y; Mohand-Said, S; Danan, A; Simonutti, M; Fontaine, V; Clerin, E; Picaud, S; Léveillard, T; Sahel, JA (May 2009). "Functional cone rescue by RdCVF protein in a dominant model of retinitis pigmentosa". Mol. Ther. 17 (5): 787–95. doi:10.1038/mt.2009.28. PMC 2835133. PMID 19277021.
• Léveillard, T; Mohand-Saïd, S; Lorentz, O; Hicks, D; Fintz, AC; Clérin, E; Simonutti, M; Forster, V; Cavusoglu, N; Chalmel, F; Dollé, P; Poch, O; Lambrou, G; Sahel, JA (Jul 2004). "Identification and characterization of rod-derived cone viability factor". Nat Genet. 36 (7): 755–9. doi:10.1038/ng1386. PMID 15220920.
• Mohand-Said, S; Hicks, D; Dreyfus, H; Sahel, JA (Jun 2000). "Selective transplantation of rods delays cone loss in a retinitis pigmentosa model". Arch Ophthalmol. 118 (6): 807–11. doi:10.1001/archopht.118.6.807. PMID 10865319.
• Frasson, M; Sahel, JA; Fabre, M; Simonutti, M; Dreyfus, H; Picaud, S (Oct 1999). "Retinitis pigmentosa: rod photoreceptor rescue by a calcium-channel blocker in the rd mouse". Nat Med. 5 (10): 1183–7. doi:10.1038/13508. PMID 10502823. S2CID 8345111.
• Mohand-Said, S; Deudon-Combe, A; Hicks, D; Simonutti, M; Forster, V; Fintz, AC; Léveillard, T; Dreyfus, H; Sahel, JA (Jul 1998). "Normal retina releases a diffusible factor stimulating cone survival in the retinal degeneration mouse". Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 95 (14): 8357–62. doi:10.1073/pnas.95.14.8357. PMC 20980. PMID 9653191.
• Delyfer, Marie-Noëlle; Raffelsberger, Wolfgang; Mercier, David; Korobelnik, Jean-François; Gaudric, Alain; Charteris, David G.; Tadayoni, Ramin; Metge, Florence; Caputo, Georges; Barale, Pierre-Olivier; Ripp, Raymond; Muller, Jean-Denis; Poch, Olivier; Sahel, José-Alain; Léveillard, Thierry (2011). "Transcriptomic Analysis of Human Retinal Detachment Reveals Both Inflammatory Response and Photoreceptor Death". PLOS ONE. 6 (12): e28791. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0028791. PMC 3235162. PMID 22174898.
• Sahel, JA., Boulanger-Scemama, E., Pagot, C. et al.: Partial recovery of visual function in a blind patient after optogenetic therapy. Nat Med 27, 1223–1229 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41591-021-01351-4.

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