About
Professor Lauren Ayton AM
CERA Deputy Director and Principal Research Fellow, Retinal Gene Therapy Unit and VENTURE Study
Professor Lauren Ayton AM is a Deputy Director and Principal Research Fellow at CERA, with research interests in inherited retinal disease and gene therapy.
Professor Lauren Ayton AM
CERA Deputy Director and Principal Research Fellow, Retinal Gene Therapy Unit and VENTURE Study
BOptom, PhD, FAAO, FACO, GAICD
Professor Lauren Ayton AM is a member of CERA’s Executive team and co-leads the Retinal Gene Therapy Unit and VENTURE inherited retinal diseases (IRD) registry with Dr Thomas Edwards.
She is also the Head of the Vision Optimisation Unit at the University of Melbourne.
Her research interests are IRD, low vision and interventions to assist people with IRD, including gene therapy.
Professor Ayton has previously held senior roles in bionic eye projects in both Australia (at CERA) and in the USA (Harvard/Cornell Universities). She has experience working in industry, as a Director of Clinical and Regulatory Affairs, and is currently the Associate Dean of Innovation and Enterprise for the Faculty of Medicine, Dentistry and Health Sciences at the University of Melbourne.
Professor Ayton and Dr Edwards’ team are working to provide people with IRDs opportunities to be involved in research at all stages, from natural history studies, online surveys and questionnaires, or clinical treatment trials.
She is an investigator at Cerulea Clinical Trials and has been involved in 13 industry-sponsored clinical trials to date.
Current projects
Key publications
My team
Key collaborators
Funding and support
Current projects
- VENTURE Inherited Retinal Disease Natural History Registry
- Female carriers of X-linked inherited retinal disease (led by Dr Sena Gocuk).
- Genetics of IRDs (led by Dr Ceecee Britten-Jones)
- Development of a new child-friendly questionnaire on vision loss in inherited retinal diseases
- Australian site of the Foundation Fighting Blindness Clinical Consortium
- Sensory substitution devices for people with low vision, to assist with mobility and activities of daily living.
Key publications
, , , , the VENTURE Study Consortium. Victorian evolution of inherited retinal diseases natural history registry (VENTURE study): Rationale, methodology and initial participant characteristics. Clin Experiment Ophthalmol. 2022; 1– 13. doi: 10.1111/ceo.14110
Bakir M*, Robertson EG*, Chen RT, Nguyen BN, McFayden B, Makrai E, Boyd L, Boyd R, Karandrews S, Ayton LN, Britten-Jones AC. Navigating a hidden disability: Lived experiences and challenges of adults with early stage inherited retinal diseases. Disability and Health Journal 2025; 101820. *co-first authors
Gocuk SA, Edwards TL, Jolly JK, Chen FK, Sousa DC, McGuinness MB, McLaren TL, Lamey TM, Thompson JA, Ayton LN. Retinal disease variability in female carriers of RPGR variants associated with retinitis pigmentosa: clinical and genetic parameters. Genes 2025; 16(2):221.
Mack HG, Britten-Jones AC, McGuinness MB, Chen FK, Grigg JR, Jamieson RV, Edwards TL, de Roach J, O’Hare F, Martin KR, Ayton LN, and the Australian Ocular Gene Therapy Group. Survey of perspectives of people with inherited retinal diseases on ocular gene therapy in Australia. Nature Gene Therapy 2023; 30(3-4): 336-346.
More publications:
My team
- Dr Ceecee Britten-Jones
- Dr Sena Gocuk
- Prof Chi Luu
- Maria Kolic
- Elise Cichello
- Janise Hermawan
- Bhaj Grewal
- Parker Truong
- Justin Dennis
- Sumudu Amarasekera
- Sujani Thrimawithana
- Emily Shepard
- Lachlan Knight
- Dr Sushma Anand
- Dr Doron Hickey
Key collaborators
- Dr Thomas Edwards, CERA
- Foundation Fighting Blindness Clinical Consortium (global)
- Prof Jasleen Jolly, UK
- Prof Elise Heon, Canada
- Prof Joe Rizzo, USA
Funding and support
Thank you to the following for their support:
- National Health and Medical Research Council (Australia)
- Medical Research Future Fund
- Illumina and The Advanced Genomics Consortium (TAGC) Innovation Fund
- Retina Australia
- University of Melbourne
- Felton Bequest
- Telematics Trust
- The Myra Stoicesco Charitable Trust
- Choroideremia Research Foundation
- Macular Disease Foundation Australia
- Victorian Medical Research Acceleration Fund
- Melbourne Disability Institute
- Universitas 21 Health Sciences International Projects Fund
- CASS Foundation
- Angior Family Foundation
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