About
Dr Daniel Urrutia Cabrera
Research Fellow
Dr Daniel Urrutia Cabrera’s research focuses on using cellular reprogramming and gene therapy – aiming to develop innovative treatments for retinal degenerative diseases.
Dr Daniel Urrutia Cabrera
Research Fellow
BSc, MSc, PhD
Dr Daniel Urrutia is a Research Fellow in the Cellular Reprogramming Research team at the Centre for Eye Research Australia (CERA).
He has contributed to more than 12 research projects at leading institutions in Australia, Germany and Mexico. Dr Urrutia completed his MSc at the University of Göttingen (Germany) and his PhD at CERA with the support of a Melbourne Research Scholarship.
Alongside Professor Raymond Wong, Dr Urrutia is the co-inventor of a patented technology to repair the retina through the generation of new photoreceptors using cellular reprogramming. This technology has been licensed to CERA’s biotech startup, Mirugen Pty Ltd, with the objective of accelerating its translation into the clinic.
Currently, Dr Urrutia’s research aims to bridge his technical expertise in stem cells, gene therapy and tissue engineering with research commercialisation and patient advisory groups to drive high-impact translational research.
Key research questions
- How can we generate retinal cells in the laboratory using cellular reprogramming and stem cell technologies?
- Can cellular reprogramming rejuvenate the retina and treat retinal degenerative diseases?
- How can we improve the cargo capacity of viral vectors for use in retinal gene therapy?
- What signals cause retinal diseases and ageing?
Current projects
Selected publications
Key collaborators
Funding and support
Current projects
- Using cellular reprogramming to stimulate the production of new photoreceptors as a treatment for retinal degenerative diseases.
- Epigenetic reprogramming as an innovative approach to rejuvenate and protect the retina from degeneration.
- Understanding the molecular signals that define retinal cell identity, ageing and disease.
- Optimisation of viral vectors for retinal gene therapy.
Selected publications
- Urrutia-Cabrera D., Huppert , Chu S., et al. (2026). Optimization of AAV tools to target Müller glial cells for retinal gene therapy. Molecular Therapy Advances. (IF = 5)
- Liou R. H. C., Urrutia-Cabrera D., Liu F., et al. (2025). Using RNA-targeting CRISPR-Cas13 and engineered U1 systems to target ABCA4 splice variants in Stargardt disease. Molecular Therapy Nucleic Acids. (IF = 6.1)
- Urrutia-Cabrera D., Wang L., Wong R. (2025) Cellular reprogramming to stimulate retina regeneration. Advances in Using Stem Cells to Treat Neural Diseases, Springer Nature. STEMCELL, volume 77. eBook ISBN 978-3-031-94101-6 (Book Chapter)
- *Wang J. H., *Urrutia-Cabrera D., et al. (2023). Development of a CRISPRi Human Retinal Pigmented Epithelium Model for Functional Study of Age‐Related Macular Degeneration Genes. International Journal of Molecular Sciences (*equal first author). (IF = 5.7)
- Urrutia-Cabrera D., Liou R. H. C., Lin J. et al. (2022). Combinatorial Approach of Binary Colloidal Crystals and CRISPR Activation to Improve Induced Pluripotent Stem Cell Differentiation into Neurons. ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces. (IF = 10.38)
- *Urrutia-Cabrera D., *Liou R. H. C., et al. (2021). Comparative Analysis of Loop-Mediated Isothermal Amplification (LAMP)-Based Assays for Rapid Detection of SARS-CoV-2 Genes. Scientific Reports (*equal first author). (IF = 9)
- Urrutia-Cabrera D., Wong R. C. B. (2020). Using single cell transcriptomics to study the complexity of human retina. Neural Regeneration Research. (IF = 06)
Key collaborators
- Professor Keith Martin (CERA)
- Professor Alex Hewitt (CERA)
- Associate Professor Luis Alarcon-Martinez (CERA)
- Professor Robyn Guymer (CERA)
- Professor Chi Luu (CERA)
- Dr Tom Edwards (CERA)
- Dr Jiang-Hui (Sloan) Wang (CERA)
- Professor Guei-Sheung (Rick) Liu (CERA)
- Dr Max Lim (St Vincent’s IMR)
- Dr Livia Carvalho (University of Melbourne)
- Professor Voker Busskamp (University of Bonn, Germany)
- Professor George Wang (Oujiang Laboratory, Wenzhou Medical University, China)
- Associate Professor Chien-Ling Huang (The Hong Kong Polytechnic University)
Funding and support
Thank you to the following organisations for their support:
- The University of Melbourne
- Retina Australia
- Mito Foundation
- Medical Research Future Fund.
Contact Dr Daniel Urrutia Cabrera
Email: durrutia@cera.org.au
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