Asociación Española de Aniridia (AEA) has awarded its first research grant, worth €12,000, to the project entitled “Application of CRISPR in corneal cells derived from iPSCs of patients as a therapeutic approach for aniridia”. It is led by Dr. Esther Pomares of the Miranza Institute of Ocular Microsurgery (IMO).
This marks the successful completion of the first grant scheme by AEA. It is aimed at promoting knowledge and developing therapies for this rare, genetic disease that affects eye development.
In this first round, AEA received four high quality research proposals. After a rigorous evaluation process carried out by a scientific evaluation committee and the association’s Board, the grant was awarded to the project “Application of clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats (CRISPR) in corneal cells derived from induced pluripotent stem cells (IPSCs) of patients as a therapeutic approach for aniridia”.
This innovative study seeks to lay the groundwork for future personalized gene therapy that can correct the genetic alterations responsible for the disease.
The project, which also involves doctors Óscar Gris, José Luis Güell, and Laura Siles Mena, will be carried out in a hospital with a significant number of patients diagnosed with aniridia. IPSCs from these individuals will be collected, and the mutations in each will be corrected using CRISPR. This will also allow for the study of potential changes in the behavior of limbal stem cells associated with the correction of the PAX6 gene in terms of cell regeneration and differentiation.
The official presentation of the grant will take place at the Spanish Society of Ophthalmology (SEO) Congress, which will take place in Santiago de Compostela on September 24th at 3:00 p.m. CEST.
This event acknowledges the importance of the AEA’s commitment to promoting scientific research to improve the diagnosis and treatment of people with Aniridia.
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