He directed a Clinical Investigation Center in Ophthalmology (2004-2021),the National Reference Center on Inherited Retinal Diseases (2006-2020), the Fondation Voir et Entendre, since 2022,[9] the Laboratory of Excellence LIFESENSES selected and funded by the Investissements d’Avenir National Program (2011-2020),[10] the Carnot Institute on Seeing and Hearing promoting technology transfer in sensory systems research (2006-2024), and the Institut Hospitalo-Universitaire FOReSIGHT (2019-2023).
[50] Together with his team, Sahel works on the conception, development, and evaluation of treatments for retinal diseases, with a focus on genetic rod-cone dystrophies,[51] including neuroprotection, stem cells, gene therapy, pharmacology, and artificial retina.
Sahel's research team (with S. Mohand-Said and Thierry Léveillard) identified the underlying signal: Rod-derived Cone Viability Factor (RdCVF),[54] and determined its mechanisms of action as associated with the stimulation of aerobic glycolysis and antioxidant.
[55] Utilizing a variety of molecular and functional genomics approaches, Sahel's group aims to identify novel disease-causing genes for retinal degenerations.
Along with the research on developmental biology, functional genomics, physiology and therapeutics, his team (with M. Paques, S. Mohand-Said and I. Audo) conducts research on genotype-phenotype correlations with high resolution in vivo non-invasive high-resolution retinal imaging techniques (optical coherence tomography and adaptive optics) aiming at refining the characterization of functional deficits, discovering of reproducible biomarkers, and identifying patients eligible for clinical application of innovative therapies.
One of his most valued achievements is the constitution (with Isabelle Audo and Saddek Mohand-Said) and follow-up of one of the largest cohort of patients with inherited retinal degenerative diseases.
Currently, more than 9,000 patients are fully phenotyped and half of them are genotyped, allowing for better assessment of disease risk and prognosis, prediction of optimal therapy, diagnostic criteria, etc.
[57] Together with M. Fink (Institut Langevin), Sahel led a ERC-Synergy grant (2014-2021) aiming at developing novel technologies for morpho-functional imaging of the visual system.
[62] After this successful demonstration of visual function restoration, Sahel and his team, in partnership with Botond Roska and the start-up Gensight, conceived the first-in-man clinical trial combining a biotherapy (photoactivatable optogene channelrhodopsin expressed in retinal ganglion cells) coupled with a stimulation device and observed the first clinical evidence for vision restoration in humans using optogenetics.