Episode 7: Eyes Reborn - Exploring Stem Cells and Vision Restoration

07/02/24 • 37 min

Associate Professor Anai Gonzalez-Cordero is a research scientist at the Children’s Medical Research Institute who joins me to discuss regenerative medicine and this incredible exciting possibility for vision restoration. We begin our discussion with the very basics of what stem cells can do, how we are now able to produce them without using embryonic tissue, what disease modeling is and excitingly, how we might manufacture and transplant stem cells to restore vision.

Additional resources:

A fantastic article about How iPS cells changed the world
Retina Australia
About Stem Cells is a public resource provided by the International Society of Stem Cell Research.
Stem Cells Australia hosts a site supported by the University of Melbourne which links researchers with the community. A complete list of current clinical trials can also be found here.

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Additional resources:

A fantastic article about How iPS cells changed the world
Retina Australia
About Stem Cells is a public resource provided by the International Society of Stem Cell Research.
Stem Cells Australia hosts a site supported by the University of Melbourne which links researchers with the community. A complete list of current clinical trials can also be found here.

Follow us on social media

If you enjoyed today's episode we'd love for you to leave a review!

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Previous Episode

Episode 6: Feeding your Eyes

Have you ever wondered what sort of nutrition advice is best for vision, for eye health and importantly, to prevent eye disease? Feeding your eyes is the very beginning of a conversation on nutrition for eye health. Professor John Nolan, the founder and director of the Nutrition Research Centre in Ireland, joins me to discuss the ingredients needed to improve and retain our vision. We deep dive into John’s areas of expertise: the role of nutrition for vision, cognitive function and the prevention of age-related diseases like macular degeneration. And we dare to venture into provocative territories that challenge the status quo. Food for thought.

The late Michael Moseley is mentioned in this episode, related to his work investigating the legitimacy of Prof. John’s work. We’d like to acknowledge not only his tragic passing this year, but his brilliant contributions to the field of science translation. Vale Michael.

Additional resources:

The Brain and Ocular Nutrition Conference aims to connect the global scientific community as well as nutrition enthusiasts, for the advancement of eye and brain function through nutrition. It is planned for June 2025 in Massachusetts, USA.

Nutritional therapist Hannah Nunn’s channel can be found at www.youtube.com/@nutritionforamd

Michael Moseley’s “Trust Me I’m a Doctor” review of macula pigment supplementation: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/1f4vsRpHghwGWZcSvRN72xM/can-i-improve-my-eyesight

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If you enjoyed today's episode we'd love for you to leave a review!

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Next Episode

Episode 8: Fixing the Code for Inherited Retinal Diseases

How does Lego relate to Genetics? In our final episode of our Talking Retina series, we have a very interesting chat with Dr. Tom Edwards, head of the Gene Therapy Research unit at the Centre for Eye Research Australia about how gene therapy works, how it might look in people receiving treatment, and the process from research to clinical delivery. According to Dr. Tom, multiple gene therapies are expected to roll out over the next 5 to 10 years, so genetic testing and signing up to registers is more important now than ever.

Dr. Tom Edwards and A/Prof Lauren Ayton work closely with the Australian and global community on Inherited Retinal Diseases.

Research sites specialising in IRDs in Australia are:

The VENTURE Registry is a collaboration between the Centre for Eye Research Australia and the University of Melbourne which collects both clinical and genetic information on people living with IRDs in Victoria. This registry also includes female carriers of X-linked IRDs.
The Australian Inherited Retinal Disease Register and DNA Bank is Australia’s largest DNA ban collecting family history and genetic samples, but not comprehensive clinical data (which is captured by state-based registries – below). The AIRDR has proudly been funded by Retina Australia since its inception in 2009.
The Save Sight Institute IRD Registry is based in NSW and led by an ophthalmologist (Prof Grigg) and geneticist (Prof Jamieson), collecting both clinical and genetic data on people living with IRDs.
The Western Australia Retinal Disease (WARD) study is based at the Lions Eye Institute in Perth, collecting clinical and genetic information on people with IRDs. The Lead Investigator, A/Prof Fred Chen, is also the Head of the Ocular Tissue Engineering Laboratory at Lions, developing new treatments for IRDs.

Additional resources can be found at: