• August 4, 2021

Ground-breaking stem cell research projects – inherited retinal conditions

Luminesce Alliance is excited by the fact that our initial funding to establish the Stem Cell Medicine Group and the Stem Cell and Organoid Facility at the Children’s Medical Research Institute (CMRI) has continued to support the delivery of ground-breaking stem cell research projects.

Dr Anai Gonzalez Cordero a stem cell expert and Group Leader of the Stem Cell Medicine team and the manager for the Stem Cell & Organoid Facility at CMRI, has been awarded almost half a million dollars to develop stem cell derived-retinal organoids to test genetic therapies.

The majority of inherited retinal conditions leading to total blindness are due to loss of the light-sensing cells of the eye, the photoreceptor cells. Harnessing researcher expertise in human stem cell biology, genetics, ophthalmology and gene therapy to test efficacy of new therapies, research output aims to overcome the leading cause of blindness in the working-age population.

Anai will also work in collaboration with the Eye Genetic Unit, with Ian Alexander and Leszek Lisowski and with the group of Dr Carvalho in the University of Western Australia