11 November, 2024
Retina Australia is delighted to announce two new Research Grants awarded for 2025.
Both grant projects will be focusing on the discovery of potential new gene therapies for inherited retinal diseases – one leveraging from the success of the only approved AAV gene therapy currently in Australia for inherited retinal disease to target other small genes, and the other, investigating a new approach to a target gene therapy treatment for larger genes.
Congratulations to our 2025 grant recipients. We very much look forward to the outcomes of these exciting projects.
Therapies for currently untreatable autosomal recessive IRDs
Grant awarded – $60,000
Chief Investigator (pictured above) – Professor Robyn Jamieson
Children’s Medical Research Institute, Sydney Children’s Hospitals Network, Save Sight Institute – University of Sydney
Project Aim
This project focuses on developing gene replacement therapies for autosomal recessive (AR) inherited retinal diseases (IRDs) where no current treatments exist. It will target genes small enough for AAV-mediated therapy, which has shown promise in previous successes like RPE65 gene therapy.
Advancing Usher syndrome type 1B gene therapy with split intein
Grant awarded – $60,000
Chief Investigator (pictured above) – Dr Jiang-Hui (Sloan) Wang
Centre for Eye Research Australia, Melbourne
Project Aim
This study is exploring a new treatment approach for Usher syndrome using a method that joins split proteins efficiently. It aims to deliver the full MYO7A protein in a mouse model of USH1B through a less invasive injection into the eye, which could lead to better treatment outcomes.
