About
Dr Sushma Anand
Research Fellow
Dr Sushma Anand is as a Postdoctoral Research Fellow in the Mitochondria and Neurodegeneration Research Unit and the Retinal Gene Therapy unit.
Dr Sushma Anand
Research Fellow
BSc, MSc Biotechnology, PhD
Dr Sushma Anand is a postdoctoral research fellow at the Centre for Eye Research Australia (CERA) and the University of Melbourne, working at the intersection of retinal gene therapy, exosome biology and mitochondrial dysfunction.
Her research aims to develop next-generation treatments for blinding eye diseases by combining cell biology, gene therapy, extracellular vesicle engineering, and advanced Omics approaches.
Dr Anand leads a growing research program focused on using exosomes as precision drug-delivery vehicles for retinal diseases, including Macular Telangiectasia Type 2 (MacTel) and inherited retinal diseases.
She is also developing PHGDH-based gene therapy strategies for MacTel, working with patient-derived iPSCs and retinal organoids to understand disease mechanisms and test therapeutic interventions.
Her parallel research examines mitochondrial dysfunction in neurodegeneration, including glaucoma and nuclear–mtDNA mismatch models. Using transcriptomics, proteomics and functional mitochondrial assays, Dr Anand aims to uncover molecular pathways that drive retinal cell vulnerability and identify new therapeutic targets.
Dr Anand’s previous postdoctoral work at Monash University with Professor Jamie Rossjohn provided structural insights into HLA–T-cell receptor interactions in the autoimmune disease psoriasis. Her PhD research at La Trobe University with Professor Suresh Mathivanan focused on extracellular vesicle biology, cancer exosomes and chemoresistance – giving her extensive expertise in EV characterisation, cargo loading, and functional assays.
Before commencing her academic research career, Dr Anand worked as a Quality Control Analyst in India at leading biopharmaceutical company Dr Reddy’s. Here, she specialised in biosimilar drugs such as Rituximab, Filgrastim, Peg-filgrastim and Darbepoetin alfa. She led bioassays, method validation and quality-controlled regulatory workflows – gaining a strong understanding of therapeutic development and commercialisation.
Key research questions
- Can exosome-based therapies offer safer and more effective treatment options for retinal diseases?
- Can we use exosomes as a versatile delivery tool for retinal therapeutics?
- How can we engineer exosomes to achieve precise and targeted delivery to retinal cells?
Current projects
Selected publications
Key collaborators
Funding and support
Current projects
Exosome-Based Drug Delivery for Retinal Degenerative Diseases
I am developing a pioneering non-viral exosome drug-delivery platform aimed at treating retinal degenerative diseases such as Macular Telangiectasia Type 2 (MacTel) and inherited retinal disease such as Stargardt disease and Usher Syndrome. My research focuses on engineering retinal exosomes to deliver therapeutic molecules directly to affected retinal cells, enabling targeted and precise treatment. This work aims to create the first pre-clinical framework for exosome-mediated therapy in the eye and address major limitations of current gene-therapy approaches.
Gene Therapy for Macular Telangiectasia type 2
Macular Telangiectasia type 2 (MacTel) is a disease that causes progressive vision loss in around 1 in 1000 people. Currently there is no treatment for MacTel and it therefore represents a critical unmet medical need.
To develop the first treatment for this potentially blinding condition, we are developing a gene therapy product.
Gene therapy is a technique where a well-tested, harmless virus is co-opted into delivering helpful genetic material to cells of the retina, the light-sensitive tissue at the back of the eye. Our gene therapy will deliver a normal, functioning copy of a gene which has been linked to MacTel through laboratory studies and clinical research.
Vision restoration in glaucoma using direct reprogramming of fibroblasts
Glaucoma ranks fourth among the leading causes of permanent blindness in the world according to the World Health Organization. It caused by the degeneration of a type of cells called retinal ganglion cells (RGCs), resulting in optic nerve damage. RGCs are the eye neurons that carry information of “what we see” to the brain. In this project we will standardise a method to regenerate RGCs under laboratory conditions which will serve as a dish model to study glaucoma.
Omics study of mitochondrial dysfunction in nuclear-mtDNA mismatch mouse model
The current project aims to investigate how mismatch of nuclear and nuclear-mitochondrial genetic interactions can drive susceptibility to neurodegeneration.
Selected publications
Anand S, Nedeva C, Chitti SV, Fonseka P, Kang T, Gangoda L, Tabassum NI, Abdirahman S, Arumugam TV, Putoczki TL, Kumar S, Mathivanan S. The E3 ubiquitin ligase NEDD4 regulates chemoresistance to 5-fluorouracil in colorectal cancer cells by altering JNK signalling. Cell Death Dis. 2023 Dec. doi: 10.1038/s41419-023-06349-z. PMID: 38097550.
Anand S, Littler DR, Mobbs JI, Braun A, Baker DG, Tennant L, Purcell AW, Vivian JP, Rossjohn J. Complimentary electrostatics dominate T-cell receptor binding to a psoriasis-associated peptide antigen presented by human leukocyte antigen C∗06:02. J Biol Chem. 2023 Jul. doi: 10.1016/j.jbc.2023.104930. PMID: 37330172.
Anand S, Trounce IA, Gangoda L. Role of extracellular vesicles in mitochondrial eye diseases. IUBMB Life. 2022 Oct 29. doi: 10.1002/iub.2687. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 36308309.
Anand S, Samuel M, Mathivanan S. Exomeres: A New Member of Extracellular Vesicles Family. Subcellular Biochemistry. (2021), PMID: 33779915.
Gangoda L, Kha P, Anand S, et.al., Deubiquitinase enzyme STAMBP plays a broad role in both Toll-like and Nod-like receptor mediated inflammation. European Journal of Inflammation. (2020), https://doi.org/10.1177/2058739220960844.
Anand S., Samuel M, Kumar S, Mathivanan S, Ticket to a bubble ride: cargo sorting into exosomes and extracellular vesicles. BBA – Proteins and Proteomics. (2019), PMID: 30822540.
Anand S, Foot N, Ang CS, Gembus KM, Keerthikumar S, Adda CG, Mathivanan S, Kumar S. Arrestin -domain containing protein 1 (Arrdc1) regulates the protein cargo and release of extracellular vesicles. Proteomics. (2018), PMID: 30035390.
Samuel, M., Chisanga, D., Liem, M., Keerthikumar, S Anand, S., Ang, C.S., Adda, C.G., Versteegen, E., Jois, M. and Mathivanan, S. Bovine milk-derived exosomes from colostrum are enriched with proteins implicated in immune response and growth. Scientific Reports. (2017), PMID: 28725021.
Mackenzie K, Foot NJ, Anand S, Dalton HE, Chaudhary N, Collins BM, Mathivanan S, Kumar S. Regulation of the divalent metal ion transporter via membrane budding. Cell Discovery, (2016), PMID: 27462458.
Anand S, Singh V, Singh AK, Mittal M, Datt M, Subramani B, Kumaran S. Equilibrium binding and Kinetic Characterization of Putative TetR Family Transcription Regulator, Fad35R from Mycobacterium tuberculosis. The FEBS Journal. (2012), PMID: 22805491.
More publications
Key collaborators
Funding and support
Contact Dr Sushma Anand
Email: sanand@cera.org.au
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