Research
Theme 3: Vision for Life: The challenge of degenerative diseases
Theme Leader: J. Stone
The eye is a highly stable organ, usually outlasting the biblical lifetime of 70 years. However, with life-spans now extending into the 9th and 10th decades, age-related breakdown of eye structure is an increasingly prevalent cause of vision loss. Age-related degeneration of the central (macular) region of the retina, AMD, is of particular concern. In addition, many young adults are blinded by conditions (retinitis pigmentosa, RP) in which the retina degenerates much earlier than usual. Further, lifestyles related to urban living and intense study are causing an epidemic of myopia in young people, and an increasing occurrence of a blinding breakdown of eye structure. This Theme addresses the cell biology of the retina and eye, to understand these degenerations and identify avenues to therapy. Work in this program will be done in CI laboratories at the ANU and the Lions Eye Institute, Perth, with contributions from PIs and PACs at the University of L’Aquila, Italy, the Universities of Melbourne and Canberra, Latrobe University, Queensland University of Technology, and the Singapore Eye Research Institute.
The specific projects in this theme are:
Oxygen-induced gene expression in the adult retina
The impact of hyperoxia on the electroretinogram in the rat and human retina
Oxygen metabolism in the healthy and degenerating retina
Retinal patterning: Siting the fovea and the rod-free area
Indicators of retinal stress and photoreceptor degeneration in AMD retinas and fellow-eyes
Looking for the Building blocks that make the fovea function
In vivo effects of near-infrared light on the healthy mammalian retina
Effects of near-infrared light exposure on the degenerative, unstable retina
The role of mitochondria in retinal degeneration
Modelling retinal degenerations: Lessons from the RCS rat
Control of eye growth: Optically generated signals and molecular pathways
