To combat the onset of blindness, Flinders University is conducting world-leading analysis of vision loss, disease prediction and the prevention of glaucoma and inflammatory eye diseases such as syphilis and toxoplasmosis.
Flinders is ensuring that thousands of treatable glaucoma cases, which are influenced by family genetics, don’t go undetected, by treating people before damage and vision loss are irreversible.
Within Flinders’ $280 million Health and Medical Research Institute (FHMRI) - a remarkable state-of-the-art complex that brings together more than 600 researchers - the University’s diverse vision research team is helping to accelerate research outcomes and swiftly translate them into clinical practice.
Patients are coming to the building for clinical tests and measurements of blood, saliva and DNA samples that are immediately examined by in-house laboratory experts, raising the efficiency and accuracy of complex genetics research.
This genetic material is helping researchers to design new trials that will be able to test people’s genetic risk for glaucoma, identify specific gene connections to vision loss, and provide protective genes that will help protect the eye and prolong vision for people with glaucoma.
These advances underline the reputation of Flinders’ ophthalmology department as one of the world’s most successful academic research units into vision problems.
Professor Jamie Craig, head of ophthalmology at Flinders University and 2024 SA Scientist of the Year, has partnered with industry to develop genetic tests for guiding glaucoma detection and management. This includes a ground-breaking saliva test that can identify patients with the highest risk of developing glaucoma, and ensure they get effective sight-saving treatment before irreversible vision loss can take hold. He is also conducting trials on laser treatments to prevent vision loss in at-risk individuals.
“These research outcomes extend to widening critical knowledge in glaucoma genetics so that all high-risk individuals can be diagnosed early in the disease – and that means preventing the loss of vision,” says Professor Craig.
Flinders strives to fulfil vital need
Professor Justine Smith AM, an ophthalmologist and co-leader of the FHMRI Eye & Vision Flagship Program, is an international expert in the causes and treatment of inflammatory eye diseases. These diseases include common but serious eye infections such as toxoplasmosis and syphilis, and autoimmune eye diseases that can be related to diseases affecting other parts of the body such as inflammatory bowel disease and multiple sclerosis. Her research also extends to eye lymphomas.
“We work in the laboratory and the clinic to improve outcomes for patients with inflammatory eye diseases, which continue to represent major unmet medical need,” says Professor Smith.
Flinders public clinic providing specialised eye care
As well as this, innovative optometry research at Flinders is investigating whether close examination of the eye’s responses to light stimulus can signal neurodevelopmental disorders such as Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder and Autism Spectrum Disorder.
These areas of progressive research are being complemented by Flinders Health2Go, a public clinic offering a range of health services, including optometry.
Using the most comprehensive range of optical imaging and diagnostic equipment in South Australia, the team of experienced optometry students and optometrists provide the best possible eye care for people with both chronic and acute eye health problems. The team also delivers specialised attention in the diabetic eye clinic, a stroke and brain injury rehabilitation clinic, autism clinic, plus clinics dedicated to children’s vision, low vision, contact lenses and the particular needs of aviation, sport and occupational vision requirements.
Flinders’ Health2Go is also helping to guide valuable research into managing myopia, also known as short-sightedness, in children. A new process, using pharmacological contact lenses rather than glasses, aims to slow the progress of the condition – and therefore reduce children’s risk of contracting eye diseases later in their life, such as retinal detachment, cataracts and glaucoma.
