About the Authors

Hendrik P. N. Scholl

Contributed equally to this work with: Hendrik P. N. Scholl, Anthony T. Moore, Robert K. Koenekoop

hscholl1@jhmi.edu

‡ These authors are shared first authors on this work.

Affiliation Wilmer Eye Institute, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, United States of America

Anthony T. Moore

Contributed equally to this work with: Hendrik P. N. Scholl, Anthony T. Moore, Robert K. Koenekoop

‡ These authors are shared first authors on this work.

Affiliations Moorfields Eye Hospital and Institute of Ophthalmology, University College London, London, United Kingdom, Dept. of Ophthalmology, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, United States of America

Robert K. Koenekoop

Contributed equally to this work with: Hendrik P. N. Scholl, Anthony T. Moore, Robert K. Koenekoop

‡ These authors are shared first authors on this work.

Affiliation McGill University Health Centre, Montreal, Quebec, Canada

Yuquan Wen

Affiliations Retina Foundation of the Southwest, Dallas, TX, United States of America, Baylor Visual Function Center, Baylor University Medical Center, Dallas, TX, United States of America

Gerald A. Fishman

Affiliation Chicago Lighthouse, Pangere Center for Inherited Retinal Diseases, Chicago, IL, United States of America

L. Ingeborgh van den Born

Affiliation Rotterdam Eye Hospital and Ophthalmic Institute, Rotterdam, The Netherlands

Ava Bittner

Affiliations Wilmer Eye Institute, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, United States of America, Nova Southeastern University, College of Optometry, Fort Lauderdale, FL, United States of America

Kristen Bowles

Affiliations Wilmer Eye Institute, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, United States of America, College of Optometry, University of Houston, Houston, TX, United States of America

Emily C. Fletcher

Affiliations Wilmer Eye Institute, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, United States of America, Gloucester Royal NHS Foundation Trust, Gloucester Royal Hospitals, Gloucester, United Kingdom

Frederick T. Collison

Affiliation Chicago Lighthouse, Pangere Center for Inherited Retinal Diseases, Chicago, IL, United States of America

Gislin Dagnelie

Affiliation Wilmer Eye Institute, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, United States of America

Simona Degli Eposti

Affiliation Moorfields Eye Hospital and Institute of Ophthalmology, University College London, London, United Kingdom

Michel Michaelides

Affiliation Moorfields Eye Hospital and Institute of Ophthalmology, University College London, London, United Kingdom

David A. Saperstein

Affiliations Vitreoretinal Associates of Washington, Seattle, WA, United States of America, QLT Inc., Vancouver, Canada

Ronald A. Schuchard

Affiliations QLT Inc., Vancouver, Canada, Stanford Univ School of Medicine, Palo Alto, CA, United States of America

Claire Barnes

Affiliations QLT Inc., Vancouver, Canada, VA Palo Alto Health Care System, Palo Alto, CA, United States of America

Wadih Zein

Affiliation Division of Epidemiology and Clinical Research, National Eye Institute, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, United States of America

Ditta Zobor

Affiliation Institute for Ophthalmic Research, Center for Ophthalmology, University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany

David G. Birch

Affiliations Retina Foundation of the Southwest, Dallas, TX, United States of America, Ophthalmology, UT Southwestern, Dallas, TX, United States of America

Janine D. Mendola

Affiliation McGill University Health Centre, Montreal, Quebec, Canada

Eberhart Zrenner

Affiliation Institute for Ophthalmic Research, Center for Ophthalmology, University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany

RET IRD 01 Study Group

Membership of the RET IRD 01 Study Group is listed in the Acknowledgments.

Competing Interests

The authors have the following interests: This study was sponsored by QLT Inc., the developer of QLT091001. QLT owns and licenses certain intellectual property rights with respect to QLT091001. Drs. Scholl, Moore, Koenekoop, Fishman, Bittner, Dagnelie, Saperstein, Schuchard, Barnes and Birch served as paid consultants for QLT Inc. Dr Saperstein has an equity stake in Retinagenix (licensory to QLT of certain intellectual property rights relating to QLT091001) and is an inventor on patents directly involved with the technology. Dr. Moore is the Chairman of the DSMB of the gene therapy trials of Sanofi and Oxford Biomedica. Dr. Birch is on the DSMC of the gene therapy trial of Sparks. Grants to investigators at Johns Hopkins University are negotiated and administered by the institution (such as the School of Medicine) which receives the grants, typically through the Office of Research and Administration. Individual investigators not named above who participated in the sponsored project were not directly compensated by the sponsor but may have received salary or other support from the institution to support their effort on the project. There are no other patents, further products in development or marketed products to declare. This does not alter the authors’ adherence to all the PLOS ONE policies on sharing data and materials.

Author Contributions

Performed the experiments: HPNS ATM RKK YW GAF LIvdB AB KB ECF FTC GD SDE MM WZ DZ DGB JDM EZ. Analyzed the data: HPNS ATM RKK YW GAF LIvdB AB KB ECF FTC GD SDE MM DAS RAS CB WZ DZ DGB JDM EZ. Wrote the paper: HPNS ATM RKK YW JDM DGB EZ.