Can stem cells help save sight?

National Stem Cell Foundation of Australia

Online public event to explore the science and answer patient questions: 7pm AEST Thursday 21 May

Media contact: Tanya Ha – 0404 083 863 or [email protected]

Could stem cells help prevent vision loss or even restore eyesight? Health charity the National Stem Cell Foundation of Australia is helping people ask the experts at a free online forum.

This May, three of Australia’s top stem cell researchers and eye clinicians will join a live online audience in the webinar Future Medicine: Can stem cells save sight? This online event explores the latest science and invites patients, journalists and others to ask their own questions.

Audience members will find out how stem cells are helping us understand and potentially treat causes of blindness and low vision including inherited eye diseases such as retinitis pigmentosa, Stargardt disease and Usher syndrome and acquired conditions, such as corneal damage.

Register to attend via Humanitix: events.humanitix.com/future-medicine-can-stem-cells-save-sight.

More than 453,000 Australians are blind or vision impaired, affecting their ability to read, work, drive, take part in hobbies, and other activities. Prescription glasses and contact lenses help many people, but some eye injuries and diseases are currently beyond repair or cure.

About 19,000 Australians have an inherited retinal disease, caused by genetics.  It is estimated that the lifetime cost of living with an inherited eye disease in Australia as $5.2 million per person. Corneal blindness affects all ages and burdens over 2 million people worldwide.

The good news is that scientists and clinicians working with stem cells are:

• developing lab-grown or patient-derived healthy eye stem cells for transplantation to treat corneal blindness.
• running clinical trials for gene therapies targeting inherited eye diseases, which could potentially stop vision loss from progressing or even restore some sight.
• using a patient’s own cells to better understand their eye disease, test treatments, and potentially develop new cell sight-saving therapies.

Find out more from our panel of researchers and clinicians who are working on:

• clinical trials for gene therapies for age-related macular degeneration and inherited eye diseases such as retinitis pigmentosa: clinician-scientist and vitreoretinal surgeon Dr Tom Edwards, Centre for Eye Research Australia
• finding ways to repair or replace photoreceptor (light-sensing) cells in the eye damaged by the genetic conditions Stargardt disease and Usher syndrome: cell biologist Associate Professor Anai Gonzalez-Cordero, Children’s Medical Research Institute
• stem cell treatments for corneal damage and limbal stem cell deficiency: ophthalmic surgeon Professor Stephanie Watson OAM, University of Sydney, Sydney Eye Hospital, Sydney Children's Hospital, and Prince of Wales Hospital.

The webinar is presented by the National Stem Cell Foundation of Australia and hosted by Science in Public’s director of engagement Tanya Ha.

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Media contact: Tanya Ha – 0404 083 863 or [email protected]

The National Stem Cell Foundation of Australia is an ATO-registered tax-deductible Health Promotion Charity dedicated to promoting the study and responsible use of stem cells to reduce the burden of disease.

The Foundation’s activities include:

• supporting research that pursues cures for as-yet-untreatable diseases
• building a community of people with a shared interest in stem cell science
• providing the Australian public with objective, reliable information on both the potential and risks of stem cell medicine.

We are working to build a community of people with a stake in stem cell science and to promote collaboration between scientists locally and internationally.

For more information, visit: www.stemcellfoundation.net.au