The retina at the back of the eye plays a crucial role in vision.
It's home to millions of photoreceptors - light-detecting cells that send signals to the brain which are turned into images.
But for people who live with retinal degeneration - a group of diseases that includes age-related macular degeneration, retinitis pigmentosa and Stargardt's disease - the death of these cells means a progressive loss of vision.
Once photoreceptors die off, they can't be restored, but cell reprogramming has the potential to change that.
Head of Cellular Reprogramming at CERA, Associate Professor Raymond Wong, is taking major steps towards restoring vision by using cell reprogramming to help the photoreceptors grow back.
"We are working on a treatment to stimulate the stem cells in the eye to develop into new photoreceptors by injecting safe engineered viruses into the eye to deliver reprogramming genes," says Associate Professor Wong.
Crucial support
Associate Professor Wong's work would not have progressed to where it is today without the support of CERA's donors and the National Stem Cell Foundation of Australia.
"We received a major boost after donors gave generously to our Hope in Sight Giving Day back in 2021, raising $191,000 for our research," says Associate Professor Wong.
"It was a game changer for us, and we are so thankful."
This support gave his team the opportunity to undertake creative and 'big sky' planning as they scaled up their work towards the development of real world and accessible treatments for retinal degeneration.
"We would not be where we are today without our generous CERA donors who gave to us and continue to do so.
"With research at this stage, it's difficult to find financial support as it doesn't yet have a clear path to the clinic, but it is absolutely necessary for the discovery of treatments.
"Philanthropic support, whether it's large or small, makes all the difference," says Associate Professor Wong.
Major growth
In the discovery phase of the research, Associate Professor Wong received support from government and philanthropic organisations, including the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC), Medical Research Future Fund (MRFF), National Stem Cell Foundation of Australia, the CERA Foundation, and Retina Australia.
After this phase was complete, CERA established the startup company Mirugen to secure commercial partners to support the research even further.
Last year, Mirugen received a $1.92m grant from biotech incubator CUREator+ through the MRFF.
CUREator+ is a national program funded by the Federal Government's Medical Research Future Fund and delivered by Brandon BioCatalyst and ANDHealth.
This year, Mirugen secured $4.5m in seed funding from a consortium of investors through the University of Melbourne Genesis Pre-Seed Fund, Tin Alley Ventures and Brandon Capital.
"Mirugen is on the cusp of translating our research into a possible therapy that could transform lives by restoring vision, so this funding comes at a crucial time," says Associate Professor Wong.
Securing these partnerships is a huge moment for moving the research closer to the clinic.
"With this support, it shows that there is hope from many people to make this treatment available to patients as soon as possible."
Cell reprogramming spin-out company Mirugen has secured up to AU$4.5M in seed funding from a consortium of investors to advance research into a treatment for the incurable genetic eye disease retinitis pigmentosa.
A gene therapy start-up aiming to regenerate damaged eye cells to switch on sight has received a major funding boost to accelerate its research to treat blindness.
