A Children’s Medical Research Institute (CMRI) scientist who specialises in creating retinal organoids from stem cells to study blindness, has been awarded a Macular Disease Foundation 2021 Research Grant.

Dr Anai Gonzalez Cordero, who is Head of the Stem Cell Medicine Group at CMRI, was awarded the grant by General the Honourable David Hurley, Governor-General at Government House this week.

The grant comes from the Macular Disease Foundation’s, new Grant Family Fund and aims to promote innovative “blue sky’ creative research into macular disease.

“It’s remarkable to get support for such a big idea,’’ Dr Gonzalez Cordero said.

Retinal degeneration involving the loss of photoreceptors is the leading cause of untreatable blindness in industrialised countries. It is extremely difficult to study the retina, but stem cell research is changing that.

Dr Gonzalez Cordero wants to generate retinal organoids, which contain a macular region, currently missing from organoid models. Apart from the stem cells team, the research will involve expertise in developmental biology and bioinformatics.

“We will use new technology to discover signalling pathways involved in macular formation,’’ she said. “The retina is so crucial for human vision. I’m very excited, because this will generate a lot of data in an area that has been previously unexplored and will lead to much larger studies. This study will really allow us to understand macular development and to develop new treatments.’’

Dr Gonzalez Cordero is at the forefront of stem cell biology and is a leading scientist in the field of photoreceptor cell transplantation in the eye. She recently formed the Stem Cell Medicine Group at CMRI, after moving from London. She said work like this demonstrates the strength of ophthalmic and stem cell research in Australia and internationally.