About
Dr Carla Abbott
Senior Research Fellow, Macular Research and Bionic Eye Research
Dr Carla Abbott runs both preclinical and clinical studies to investigate the underlying causes of and potential treatments for retinal and optic nerve disease.
Dr Carla Abbott
Senior Research Fellow, Macular Research and Bionic Eye Research
BOptom, PhD, PGDOcTher, FACO
Dr Carla Abbott is a clinician-scientist and a senior research fellow within the Macular Research and Bionic Eye Research teams at CERA.
She holds an appointment as Honorary optometrist and clinical researcher at the Royal Victorian Eye and Ear Hospital and is a clinical instructor of optometry students at the Australian College of Optometry. She is a practitioner member on the Optometry Board of Australia, the regulatory board of the optometry profession.
Dr Abbott is an expert in structure and function of the retina and optic nerve and has specific research interests in age-related macular degeneration (AMD), inherited retinal diseases (such as retinitis pigmentosa (RP)) and glaucoma.
She has extensive experience in preclinical models and safety and efficacy testing of treatments for retinal disease. She also has experience in clinical trials and translational projects, including the Australian bionic eye project.
Dr Abbott was an integral multidisciplinary team member in both the device development preclinical team and the clinical trial team that has been successful in bringing the Australian bionic eye to two clinical trials.
Dr Abbott is a member of the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology and is a Fellow of the Australian College of Optometry.
She is interested in supervising research higher degree students, honours students, and medical students doing a research component of their course.
Key research questions
- What are the underlying causes of retinal disease?
- How can we better treat retinal disease, and ensure treatments are safe and efficacious?
Current projects
Selected publications
Key collaborators
Funding and support
Current projects
- 44 Channel Suprachoroidal Retinal Prosthesis Clinical Trial (clinicaltrials.gov #NCT03406416) and device development
- Development of a neuroprotective bionic device to slow down retinal degeneration
- Inherited retinal disease studies including the Nacuity Pharmaceuticals Phase II trial (NCT04355689) and theinherited retinal disease natural history study
- Using cell reprogramming to regenerate photoreceptors – preclinical studies aimed at finding a stem cell treatment for photoreceptor disease
- A deep phenotyping study of reticular pseudodrusen in age-related macular degeneration – uncovering novel causes, genetic associations and potential intervention strategies for age-related macular degeneration by determining the underlying aetiology of reticular pseudodrusen in the retina
Selected publications
Wightman AJ, Abbott CJ, McGuinness MB, Caruso E, Guymer RH, Luu CD “Pre-symptomatic retinal sensitivity changes in intermediate age-related macular degeneration associated with new retinal fluid” Translational Vision Science & Technology 2019;8(6): 3-3. doi:https://doi.org/10.1167/tvst.8.6.3
Hart K, Abbott CJ, Ly A, Kalff S, Lek JJ, Page G, Robertson B, Tobias R, Ayton LN “Optometry Australia’s chairside reference for the diagnosis and management of age-related macular degeneration” Clinical and Experimental Optometry 2019;103: 254-264. DOI: 10.1111/cxo.12964
Abbott CJ, Nayagam DAX, Luu CD, Epp SB, Williams RA, Salinas-LaRosa CM, Villalobos J, McGowan C, Shivdasani MN, Burns O, Leavens J, Yeoh J, Brandli AA, Thien PC, Zhou J, Feng H, Williams CE, Shepherd RK, Allen PJ “Safety Studies for a 44-Channel Suprachoroidal Retinal Prosthesis: A Chronic Passive Study” Investigative Ophthalmology and Visual Science 2018;59(3): 1410-1424. DOI: 10.1167/iovs.17-23086
Abbott CJ, Choe TE, Lusardi TA, Wang L, Burgoyne C, Fortune B “Evaluation of Retinal Nerve Fiber Layer Thickness and Axonal Transport 1- and 2-weeks After 8-hours of Acute Intraocular Pressure Elevation in Rats”. Investigative Ophthalmology and Visual Science 2014;55(2):674-687. doi: 10.1167/iovs.13-12811
See more publications
Key collaborators
- A/Prof Chi Luu (CERA)
- A/Prof Penelope Allen (CERA)
- Prof Robyn Guymer (CERA)
- Dr Raymond Wong (CERA)
- Dr Zhichao Wu (CERA)
- Dr Jonathan Ruddle (CERA)
- Dr Tom Edwards (CERA)
- Dr Myra McGuinness (CERA)
- Dr Lauren Ayton (University of Melbourne)
- Prof Erica Fletcher (University of Melbourne)
- Dr Una Greferath (University of Melbourne)
- Prof Alice Pebay University of Melbourne)
- Dr David Nayagam (Bionics Institute)
- Dr Matthew Petoe (Bionics Institute)
- A/Prof Chris Williams (Bionics Institute)
- Dr Jafar Jabbari (Australian Genomic Research Facility)
- Prof Melanie Bahlo (WEHI)
- Dr Brendan Ansell (WEHI)
Funding and support
Thank you to the following organisations for their support:
- NHMRC
- Retina Australia
- CASS Foundation
- Ophthalmic Research Institute of Australia
- Bionic Vision Technologies
- The University of Melbourne
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