Meet a researcher: Hassina Zeriri
It’s not very often that we come across a researcher working on a project inspired by their own lived experience of a sight loss condition.
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It’s not very often that we come across a researcher working on a project inspired by their own lived experience of a sight loss condition.
A recently published study has described numerous disease mechanisms that appear to be common across different types of inherited sight loss, suggesting that there is significant potential for drug treatments that could work regardless of the underlying causative gene.
Autosomal dominant inheritance means that the faulty gene is on an autosome (any chromosome other than the sex chromosomes) and that only one faulty copy is needed to cause sight loss.
SpliceBio has begun the dose-expansion portion of their phase 1/2 clinical trial of SB-007, a dual adeno-associated viral vector gene therapy for Stargardt disease.
Beacon Therapeutics announced positive results from their phase 2 gene therapy trial for X-linked retinitis pigmentosa (XLRP) caused by mutations in the RPGR gene.
It was previously believed that female carriers of X-linked inherited retinal diseases (IRDs) like X-linked retinitis pigmentosa (RP and Choroideremia) remained unaffected by sight loss.
Researchers in the Netherlands are developing a “retina-on-a-chip” that mimics the key layers of the human retina, offering a powerful new way to study inherited retinal diseases (IRDs) and test potential treatments using human cells.
Disulfiram (Antabuse), FDA-approved for deterring alcohol, is in a phase 1 trial at the University of Washington to improve vision in retinitis pigmentosa.
Ocugen’s gene therapy candidate, OCU410ST, is an experimental treatment designed to slow vision loss in Stargardt disease, an inherited retinal disease (IRD) with no approved therapies currently.
Jing Yu is a bioinformatician with the Eye Research Group at Oxford University, and is part of the UK Inherited Retinal Dystrophy Consortium (UKIRDC) team, funded by a Retina UK grant.