Dr Thomas Edwards

Dr Thomas Edwards and his Retinal Gene Therapy Research team at the Centre for Eye Research Australia (CERA) are investigating how to treat an inherited retinal disease (IRD) by replacing the abnormal gene that causes the disorder.

“This is gene therapy in its simplest form – rather than trying to fix the gene we’re replacing it,” said Dr Edwards. “We’ve had some successes delivering our gene of interest into cells grown in the lab. It’s giving us plenty of encouragement.”

He said he hopes to establish Melbourne as a centre for ocular gene therapy research and attract gene therapy clinical trials to target other IRDs and more eye diseases with a genetic basis, such as age-related macular degeneration and glaucoma.