Government Backs Groundbreaking Vision Research Led by Fighting Blindness and Trinity Scientists: Funding Boost Aims to Unlock New Treatments for Sight Loss

Fighting Blindness is thrilled to announce that two cutting-edge research projects led by Trinity College Dublin scientists, Dr. Sarah Doyle and Prof. Jane Farrar, have received significant backing from the Irish government through the Health Research Board’s (HRB) Joint Funding Scheme with Health Research Charities Ireland (HRCI).

 

In a remarkable show of support, the government will match funds raised by Fighting Blindness to propel crucial vision research forward, which could ultimately transform how multiple eye diseases are treated.

The Joint Funding Scheme is run in partnership with the HRB and HRCI to offer HRCI member charities, such as Fighting Blindness, the opportunity to co-fund research projects that are of significant importance to them.

A key priority of Fighting Blindness is to promote research that supports the development of therapies that are accessible to all patients affected by the wide spectrum of retinal degenerative disease.

The successful projects that will be co-funded by Fighting Blindness and the HRB in this round are:

• Title: Exploring Innate Immune Pathways in Photoreceptors in Retinal Degenerative Disease.
  Lead Applicant: Dr Sarah Doyle
  Host institute: Trinity College Dublin
• Title: Exploration of gene agnostic therapeutic approaches for ocular disorders modulating mitochondrial dysfunction.
  Lead Applicant: Prof Jane Farrar
  Co-applicant: Dr Naomi Chadderton
  Host institute: Trinity College Dublin

 

What is Retinal Degeneration?

Retinal degeneration is central to conditions such as inherited retinopathies and age-related macular degeneration, among others. This leads to gradual loss of the light-sensing cells of the retina at the back of the eye (known as photoreceptor cells), leading to progressive vision loss. These exciting new research projects seek to support the development of treatments for people living with a wide spectrum of retinal degenerative diseases with an unmet need.

 

What will be the focus of these projects?

• Project: Exploring Innate Immune Pathways in Photoreceptors in Retinal Degenerative Disease.

There is a major knowledge gap in vision research on how pathways and mechanisms of our immune system are triggered in photoreceptor cells during the process of retinal degeneration. Such knowledge could highlight targets of the immune system that are common to multiple retinal degenerative diseases, and could therefore open new windows to identify potential treatment options for individuals living with different conditions of sight loss.

 

 

Dr Doyle’s project will involve the use of special types of cells, called human induced pluripotent stem cells (or IPS cells), which can be reprogrammed to turn into other types of cells in the body for scientific experiments. Using these iPS cells, together with models of artificial retina structures grown from iPS cells (known as retinal organoids), this project aims to gain a better understanding of the role the immune system plays in human conditions of retinal degeneration.

• Project: Exploration of gene agnostic therapeutic approaches for ocular disorders modulating mitochondrial dysfunction.

A common feature found in different retinal degenerative conditions is reduced energy levels in cells of the retina. Research studies suggest that boosting the energy levels in these cells could help to slow down retinal degeneration and reduce further vision loss associated with different eye conditions.

Prof Farrar’s research will explore new ways to re-energise retinal cells and improve their health for retinal degenerations. To do this, her team aims to develop novel gene therapies that will support the function of the ‘powerhouses’ of our cells; the mitochondria. These gene therapies will be tested in different models of inherited retinal degeneration, including both mouse models and cell-based models derived from patients living with retinal degenerative diseases. By exploring the use of therapies that target a common feature of different eye conditions, this work could support the potential development of new gene-independent treatments that could benefit patients living with a broad spectrum of eye disease (called ‘gene agnostic therapies’). This is particularly important as we now know that over 350 genes can cause inherited retinal degenerations making the development of gene-specific therapies challenging.

 

Upon hearing the news of their success, Dr Sarah Doyle said:

We are so excited to start work on this project and grateful to the HRB and Fighting Blindness for funding it. The immune pathways we are exploring are found in cells that wouldn’t traditionally be considered to have immune capacity. Knowing more about how this process works in retinal cells may lead to a treatment that can reduce vision loss. Even better, activation of these immune pathways is likely to be common across many retinal diseases, so a greater understanding of these pathways should benefit a broad variety of retinal diseases. – Dr Sarah Doyle

Prof Jane Farrar also said:

We are delighted to receive this funding from Fighting Blindness Ireland and the Health Research Board to further our research to develop gene-agnostic treatments for retinal disease. These exciting therapeutic approaches have the potential to provide benefit for people living with vision loss caused by many different genes. – Prof Jane Farrar

The government’s support is a powerful endorsement of the life-changing work being done by Fighting Blindness and the Irish research community.

Finbarr Roche, CEO of Fighting Blindness, highlighted the importance of the partnership between patients and researchers:

Since 1983, Fighting Blindness has been funding pioneering research in Ireland. To see our leading researchers receive government backing is a huge step forward. There is real hope on the horizon for people living with sight loss, and this collaboration shows that, together, we can drive meaningful progress towards treatments—and one day, cures. – Finbarr Roche

Both projects are positioned to lead to broad-spectrum treatments that could benefit people with a variety of eye conditions, offering real hope for those affected by genetic vision loss and you can find out more about the successful projects from this round of the scheme here.

These advancements underline Ireland’s role as a global leader in vision research and show that partnerships between patient groups, researchers, and government bodies can lead to life-changing innovations.

Once again, Fighting Blindness wish to congratulate Dr Doyle and Prof Farrar on their fantastic achievement. We look forward to seeing these important projects progress and hearing about the results!