Welcome to CERA’s 2024 Vision Expo.

This year’s theme ‘People in focus’ underscores our commitment to translating research into tangible benefits for people living with vision loss and blindness. Through this expo, we look forward to sharing our eye research innovation projects with you and learning more about how we can work together to combat vision loss and blindness.

The event features displays from 18 of CERA’s research teams and collaborators, including our new clinical trials centre Cerulea Clinical Trials. You’ll be able to speak directly with our research teams to learn more about their work, explore potential collaborations and share ideas.

Please also be sure to join me from 7:00pm for one of the evening’s highlights, a panel discussion on the journey of translating research from the lab to the clinic. You’ll hear from:

• • Professor Peter van Wijngaarden, CERA Deputy Director, who will share insights into his innovative research and the work of his spin-out company, Enlighten Imaging
  • Michelle Gallaher, CEO of Cerulea Clinical Trials Centre, who will discuss the future of vision research within the clinical trial space
  • Dr Ceecee Britten-Jones, CERA Honorary Research Fellow, who will introduce The Advanced Genomics Collaboration and one of its innovation projects, the CERA-led Ocular Genomics Hub
  • Ken Jefferd, Managing Director of Research Innovation and Commercialisation at the University of Melbourne, who will highlight some fantastic local innovations and their real-world impacts.

We hope you enjoy this opportunity to exchange knowledge and ideas, build connections, and network with peers across the medical research and eye health communities.

Thank you for your continued support and interest in our work.

Professor Keith Martin
Managing Director, CERA

Discover how new insights into the intricate workings of the retina could help prevent or treat diseases like glaucoma, diabetic retinopathy and age-related macular degeneration (AMD).

Find out more about the new home of clinical research at CERA and how to get involved as a participant, clinician or industry partner.

Explore how the tiny ‘batteries’ that power our cells play a role in diseases of the eye and brain, and how this understanding may unlock new treatment approaches

Learn about the exciting potential of nicotinamide (vitamin B3) to protect nerve cells in glaucoma and slow down vision loss, and how you can contribute to our international clinical trial.

Chat to Dr Anna Wang about her innovative research program to uncover new eye cells and understand how they work. This research could provide important clues for detecting glaucoma earlier and developing new treatments.

Discover how CERA’s artificial intelligence-based eye scan works. This technology, currently being trialled, has the potential to detect eye diseases earlier, increase access to screening and even identify people at risk of cardiovascular disease and Parkinson’s disease.

Meet the multidisciplinary team behind a space-age eye test that can detect the early signs of Alzheimer’s disease.

Find out how the latest imaging technologies and new therapies are being used to improve the early detection and treatment of eye cancer.

One in 7 Australians over 50 has the early signs of age-related macular degeneration (AMD). Learn more about this disease and how our research aims to save sight by improving how we understand, detect and treat AMD.

Discover how CERA’s retinal gene therapy research, the VENTURE study, and a partnership between the University of Melbourne and an international genomics company is giving hope of new treatments for people with inherited retinal diseases.

Experience how adaptive technologies can support independent navigation and orientation for people with profound vision loss.

Learn how we’re regenerating the retina to save sight and view human retinal cells that we’ve generated in the lab using stem cell technologies.

See how our Genetic Engineering Research team applies advanced gene technology to create less invasive and more effective treatments for vision loss, including a new gene therapy we hope will replace multiple eye injections with a simple eye drop.

Learn about the recent projects that are getting us closer to a safe and effective treatment to prevent the scarring that causes glaucoma blindness.

Talk to us about the latest innovations to prevent avoidable blindness from corneal diseases, including the development of a bioengineered cornea, and see Dr Karl Brown demonstrate the intricacies involved in working with corneal tissue.

Chat with Dr Heather Machin, Head of the Lions Eye Donation Service, about how the team works with eye donors and their families to bring their gift of donation to waiting recipients – and find out how to become an eye donor yourself.

Discover how this 3D eye model is being used in busy clinical settings to improve health literacy and patient outcomes.

Using a virtual reality headset, you’ll be able to simulate the artificial vision experienced by people using the bionic eye implant developed by CERA and its collaborators.