Cellular Reprogramming Unit

The Cellular Reprogramming Unit uses cell reprogramming, stem cell and genetic technologies to better understand and develop treatments for eye diseases, with the goal of regenerating cells in the eye.

We are located at the Centre for Eye Research Australia and Department of Surgery (Ophthalmology), University of Melbourne, Australia.

Research

The Cellular Reprogramming Unit is devoted to developing regenerative therapies and gene therapies to treat retinal degeneration. In our research, we work with advanced techniques such as direct reprogramming, human induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells, CRISPR/Cas9 gene editing and single cell transcriptomics. Our goal is to better understand and control cell fate decisions in the eye. This allows us to develop new ways to generate human retinal cells in the lab, which can be used to study the mechanism underlying retinal diseases, tissue engineering and transplantation.

Research Excellence Award for the Cellular Reprogramming Unit

Funding boost to advance gene therapy to combat retinal aging

Professor appointment at University of Melbourne

Preprints

Using RNA-targeting CRISPR-Cas13 and engineered U1 systems to target ABCA4 splice variants in Stargardt disease

Liou R, Urrutia-Cabrera D, Liu CF, Wu S, Westin IM, Golovleva I, Liu GS, Kumar S, McLenachan S, Chen F, Hsu FT, Huang CL, Edwards T, Martin K, Cheng A, Wong R (2025) Using RNA-targeting CRISPR-Cas13 and engineered U1 systems to target ABCA4 splice variants in Stargardt disease. Molecular Therapy -Nucleic Acids, accepted 2025.11.18. (IF = 10.18)