Fighting Blindness and UCD Secure HRCI-HRB Funding for Innovative Vision Research Project

We are delighted to announce that, in partnership with Professor Breandán Kennedy of the Conway Institute, University College Dublin, we have been awarded funding under the HRCI-HRB Joint Funding Scheme. This prestigious scheme is a collaborative initiative between the Health Research Board and Health Research Charities Ireland, supporting high-quality health research that addresses the needs of patients and the public.

This award builds on the long-standing collaboration between Fighting Blindness and Professor Breandán Kennedy and reflects our shared commitment to advancing knowledge and developing new approaches to tackling sight loss. The project will investigate extracellular vesicles (EVs), which are small particles naturally released by cells. EVs act as biological “messengers,” carrying information between cells throughout the body.Researchers believe that EVs may play an important role in vision loss and retinal degeneration associated with inherited retinal diseases (IRDs), age-related macular degeneration (AMD) and diabetic retinopathy (DR). By studying EVs from people living with retinal degeneration, alongside laboratory models of these conditions, the UCD team hopes to gain a better understanding of how retinal diseases develop and progress.

While this research is still at an early stage, it has the potential to provide important insights into the underlying causes of retinal degeneration. For example, it could help identify new ways of monitoring retinal diseases, including changes that can be detected through eye scans or blood tests (biomarkers). It may also uncover new opportunities for developing treatments that could benefit many people affected by retinal conditions.

Fighting Blindness is proud to support this exciting project and will contribute €150,000 over its three-year duration. The HRCI-HRB Joint Funding Scheme is highly competitive, with successful projects receiving joint funding from the charity partner and the Health Research Board on a 50:50 basis. A key element of the assessment process is Public and Patient Involvement (PPI). For this application, the proposal was reviewed by a panel of patient representatives from Fighting Blindness, alongside a separate patient review panel convened by the Health Research Board.

As a founding member of what is now HRCI, alongside the Irish Cancer Society and the Children’s Research Foundation, Fighting Blindness played a key role in advocating for the establishment of the Joint Funding Scheme and has remained an active participant since its inception. To date, Fighting Blindness has invested more than €20 million in world-leading vision research. We are proud to continue supporting innovative research with the potential to improve our understanding of retinal disease and look forward to a future with better treatments and cures for sight loss.

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