Research we fund
Retina Australia supports medical research into inherited retinal diseases through the annual Retina Australia Grants Program where the best researchers in Australia can apply for funding.
Research impact reports
Since 1989, Retina Australia has invested over $6.5 million across more than 140 different projects. You can read about each of the research grants awarded and review their impact reports here.
Strategy and governance
Our research focus is on finding early detectors, discovering preventions and advancing treatments with the ultimate goal to progress towards unlocking cures into inherited retinal diseases.
Research may fall into one of the following common key categories:
Epidemiology
Epidemiology is the study of how often the diseases occur in different groups of people and why. It is often referred to as population research.
Pharmaceutical drugs
Pharmaceutical drug research focuses on the development of certain types of drugs that can protect or slow down photoreceptors in conditions like retinitis pigmentosa and age-related macular degeneration.
Gene therapy
Gene therapy is the introduction of normal genes to replace the gene with the anomaly that is causing the disease.
Stem Cell Therapy
Stem cell therapy involves the use of human stem cells to treat disease, such as to replace or regenerate photoreceptors that have been lost due to degeneration.
Vision prostheses
Vision prostheses, also known as “bionic eyes”, are electronic devices which are implanted into the eye or brain to provide some basic vision to people with severe vision loss.
Other research
Retina Australia may support other areas of research where the project is regarded as highly innovative but does not fit into any of the other categories.