Over the past 20 years, we have established a national cohort of patients with inherited optic neuropathies and we are using this unique resource for deep phenotyping, biomarker profiling, and to push forward with an active translational research programme, including gene therapy.
I am the Director of the Cambridge Clinical Vision Laboratory that was set up as a cross-cutting facility to support advanced therapeutics on the Cambridge Biomedical Campus.
I have long-standing collaborations with other principal investigators in the Cambridge Centre for Brain Repair, the Cambridge MRC Mitochondrial Biology Unit and the UCL Institute of Ophthalmology in London.
My research group is focused on dissecting the disease mechanisms leading to progressive retinal ganglion cell loss in inherited optic neuropathies by using a combination of patient tissues, induced pluripotent stem cells and animal models.
The project themes are, gene discovery in inherited optic neuropathies, dissecting disease mechanisms using iPSC-derived retinal ganglion cells, zebrafish models of Wolfram syndrome and therapeutics, and biomarker discovery and novel gene therapies for inherited optic neuropathies.
This extensive research network will provide the student with access to a wide source of expertise, tailored supervision and the opportunity to develop a broad skill set as the project evolves.
Funding Notes
For academic year October 27/28;
Gates US applications (round 1) close 14th October 26, further information available via Gates Website;
Cambridge Trust, Gates Cambridge (round 2) deadline 8th December 26 to be eligible for funding. If you apply after the funding deadlines you will not be eligible for the Cambridge Funding competition, please indicate in your application all the funding you are eligible for. You can also check funding search.
Funding is not available for Lent or Easter 27 places as the funding deadline for these has already passed, you will need to have other funding in place to support your studies
References
Application portal link;
Please do try to get in contact directly with the supervisor should you want to discuss the project further.
If you do not hear back from the supervisor, you contact you can still include their name on the application as this will be sent to them to review as well as our committee.
Open Days
17 September 2026, Multiple dates
University of Cambridge: Postgraduate College Visit Days
Cambridge (United Kingdom)
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