Gene and Stem Cell therapy for childhood blindness
Professor Robin Ali is leading a research group alongside Professor James Bainbridge, Professor Michel Michaelides and Dr Rachael Pearson to develop strategies to improve the function of the eye’s light-sensitive cells and prevent cell failure using gene therapy. This is where a new normal copy of a human gene is inserted into a harmless virus which then transports the gene into the retinal cells, where the gene is able to function normally and replaces the faulty gene.
Further information is available here.
Genetics of human retinal disease
Another fundamental aspect of research within this theme is to identify the specific genetic changes causing retinal disease within families and then to carry out a detailed investigation of retinal function using electrophysiology and psychophysics whilst correlating this with the structure of the retina. We have access to state-of-the-art imaging including adaptive optics imaging (by Professor Michel Michaelides) which allows unrivalled visualisation of retinal cells in the living eye - so it is now possible to image the different layers of the retina and even the light-sensitive cells themselves. We will use the same approaches to study the effects of novel therapies such as gene therapy and stem cell therapy.