Centre for Eye Research Australia

31/10/2025

When your child is young, it can be challenging to spot the signs of vision problems. 👀

We’ve put together the 'Keeping young eyes healthy guide' to give you a snapshot of the different conditions affecting young eyes, with tips to protect your child’s eyesight for the future.

To get your copy, simply subscribe to our monthly Eye News via the link in the below comments. 👇

29/10/2025

28/10/2025

CERA Head of Corneal Research Professor Mark Daniell is Lien Trinh's latest guest on the Talking Eyes podcast. Listen as they take you through the world of corneal transplantation – from the reasons corneas sometimes fail to the latest surgical techniques that are improving vision recovery and reducing the risk of rejection.

Professor Daniell also offers insights into the work to engineer corneal tissue to reduce the global shortage of cornea and a new technology that could make delicate eye surgery faster, safer and easier to perform in more places.

📻💬 Listen via the link in the comments below 👇

27/10/2025

The retina at the back of the eye houses millions of light-detecting photoreceptors cells. 👁️ For people living with retinal degeneration – a group of diseases including age-related macular degeneration, retinitis pigmentosa and Stargardt’s disease – the death of these cells means a progressive loss of vision.

At CERA, Head of Cellular Reprogramming, Associate Professor Raymond Wong, is taking major steps towards restoring vision by using cell reprogramming to help the photoreceptors grow back. 🧬🔬

“We are working on a treatment to stimulate the stem cells in the eye to develop into new photoreceptors by injecting safe engineered viruses into the eye to deliver reprogramming genes,” says Associate Professor Wong.

Thanks to the support of CERA’s donors and the National Stem Cell Foundation of Australia – Associate Professor Wong’s team are scaling up towards developing treatments for retinal degeneration.

“With research at this stage, it’s difficult to find financial support as it doesn’t yet have a clear path to the clinic, but it’s absolutely necessary for the discovery of treatments,” he says.

“We wouldn’t be where we are today without our generous CERA donors who gave to us and continue to do so.”

In the research’s discovery phase, Associate Professor Wong received support from government and philanthropic organisations, including the National Health and Medical Research Council - NHMRC, Medical Research Future Fund (MRFF), National Stem Cell Foundation of Australia, CERA Foundation and Retina Australia.

After completing this phase, CERA established startup Mirugen to secure commercial partners to further support the research.

Last year, Mirugen received a $1.92m grant from biotech incubator CUREator+ – a national program funded by the Federal Government’s Medical Research Future Fund and delivered by Brandon BioCatalyst and AndHealth.

This year, Mirugen secured $4.5m in seed funding from a consortium of investors through The University of Melbourne Genesis Pre-Seed Fund, Tin Alley Ventures and Brandon Capital.

Associate Professor Wong says it's a huge moment for moving the research closer to the clinic. 🏥

“With this support, it shows there is hope from many people to make this treatment available to patients as soon as possible.”

19/10/2025

Cutting-edge research is making it possible to prevent vision loss caused by inherited retinal diseases (IRDs). However, with over 300 genes linked to different IRDs, people often don't know the exact gene causing their blindness – leaving them unable to access emerging treatments.

The VENTURE Study, a partnership between CERA and The University of Melbourne, involves over 550 people with IRDs. One hundred of them are receiving advanced testing through a partnership with The Advanced Genomics Collaboration (TAGC), aiming to find the exact genetic cause of their blindness. TAGC partners the University of Melbourne and Illumina, Inc.

"We are thrilled to be working with Illumina and TAGC to help develop other avenues for advanced testing for these people, in the hope that an answer may be achievable," says Professor Lauren Ayton AM, who co-leads the project at CERA alongside Dr Tom Edwards.

"The VENTURE registry is driving IRD research, giving access to research opportunities."

Under the leadership of ocular genetics expert Dr Ceecee Britten-Jones, some participants access advanced genetic testing to solve more complicated cases.

Professor Ayton says a specific diagnosis can be very reassuring for a person with an IRD: “The value of genetic testing cannot be overstated.”

The collaborative approach involves Retina Australia, UsherKids Australia and Blind Citizens Australia. "We work closely with community groups to ensure our work is relevant," says Professor Ayton.

“We are keen to find more participants for clinical trials quickly, and to also know more about IRDs in this era of possible treatment.”

Read the full article from our latest edition of Visionary magazine (link in comments) 👇

Pictured: Professor Ayton and Dr Britten-Jones

16/10/2025

The cornea plays a vital role in our vision, but there's still so much to uncover about the clear window to the eye. 👁️ Our very own ‘Dr Karl’ Brown recently joined Lien Trinh on episode 1 of her new season of Talking Eyes to discuss why the cornea is so important – and the cutting-edge research at CERA to engineer tissue to help combat a global shortage of donated corneas. 🌏

📻💬 Listen to the podcast via the link in the comments. 👇

14/10/2025

🙌 We’re delighted to share CERA researcher Dr Sena Gocuk is the inaugural winner of the Retina Australia Emerging Scientist Award – recognising and supporting her demonstrated excellence in research, leadership and advocacy in inherited retinal diseases (IRDs). 👁️

IRDs are a broad group of eye conditions resulting from a change or ‘mutation’ in one or more genes.

Dr Gocuk has been pioneering research into female carriers of X-linked IRDs, such as choroideremia and X-linked retinitis pigmentosa – caused by a gene mutation on the X chromosome. 🧬

Her research aims to ensure female carriers have equal access to potential treatments and support as males with these inherited conditions.

Dr Gocuk is currently being supported by The Felton Bequest Philanthropic Research Grant at CERA to advance her research in two new projects.

The first aims to develop a clinical test to identify a female carrier's risk of severe vision loss to facilitate personalised clinical care.

The second explores whether emerging gene therapies being tested in males with X-linked diseases could also be safe and effective for female carriers.

Please join us in congratulating Dr Gocuk on this well-deserved honour! 🎉

09/10/2025

We did it! 🎉 Together, we've raised $200,000 for eye research. Thanks to our anonymous dollar-for-dollar match donor who amplified our collective impact and doubled donations until we reached our target. And of course, YOU.

Without you, none of this would have been possible. We hope you enjoyed watching your donation double and seeing the tally increase throughout the day.

But Hope in Sight Giving Day isn't over – there's still time to support our vision research – although any donations from this point won’t be doubled: https://ow.ly/qbyL50X8VCA

Your generosity means so much to our team of researchers – helping them move ever closer to new treatments and cures for vision loss. 🧬🔬

It’s research that could have a life-changing impact for people like Louis Shepard and Olivia Depares who live with Usher syndrome – a rare inherited genetic condition that causes profound hearing loss, a progressive decline in vision from teen to adult years and balance problems.

At CERA, our ever expanding and developing gene and cell therapy research is giving hope for future treatments for vision loss due to Usher syndrome and other genetic eye conditions.

Thank you again for supporting our Hope in Sight Giving Day. We couldn’t have reached this milestone without you. ❤️

09/10/2025

Let's hit our $200,000 goal for eye research out of the park! We are nearly there, and there is still time today to donate! Can you help us raise $200,000 for research into Usher syndrome and other inherited retinal diseases? https://www.charidy.com/HopeinSight

09/10/2025

We are half way there, but we still have a way to go to reach our goal of $200,000. All money raised today goes directly towards CERA's research into blindness caused by Usher syndrome and other inherited retinal diseases: https://www.charidy.com/HopeinSight

09/10/2025

Our very own Professor Lauren Ayton AM appeared on Vision Australia Radio for World Sight Day to discuss CERA's research focused on treating Usher syndrome – an inherited retinal disease that not only affects vision but also hearing and balance.

Listen to Professor Ayton’s insightful conversation with Peter Greco to learn how genetic testing is identifying Usher syndrome much earlier and how CERA researchers are using innovative gene therapy and gene editing approaches in their mission to treat vision loss.

Access the podcast via the link in the comments below 👇

08/10/2025

We are a quarter of the way there! Thank you! Can you help us hit our next goal of 50% to support research into blindness and vision loss that is caused by Usher syndrome and other inherited retinal diseases? Link to donate in comments below 👇