Video produced by SIRAP

the cause

Established in 1990 by the Reserve Bank and a group of Australia’s leading banks, the Foundation is singularly focused on raising funds for research into children’s health issues. This year we celebrate 28 years of the Foundation and the 244 pioneering research projects that it has supported.

At the 2018 Enchanted Ball, our guests witnessed an FMFC funded research project: ‘Curing blindness in children using New Gene Delivery Vectors that Target Human Retina' by Dr. Leszek Lisowski and Professor Robyn Jamieson at the Children's Medical Research Institute (CMRI) in NSW.

Blindness affects approximately 1 in 3,000 Australian children. Genetic factors contribute to many blinding eye conditions, with more than 200 disease causing genes identified to date. Devastatingly, for the majority of those affected, there are presently no treatment or preventive measures, and the consequence is an inexorable progression to blindness. Using advances in vector and genomic technology, Dr Lisowski is developing new ways to efficiently and safely deliver therapeutic genes to affected cells in paediatric patients, to stop disease progression before irreversible changes leading to blindness can occur. Gene therapy is one of the most promising technologies for curing blinding eye diseases but is in early development. That is why this project is so important.

Dr Lisowski is Research Group Leader, Translational Vectorology Group (TVG) and Manager, Vector and Genome Engineering Facility (VGEF) at CMRI. He is a world expert in vector-based gene delivery technologies and works closely with paediatrician and renowned gene therapy expert Professor Ian Alexander of The Children’s Hospital at Westmead and CMRI. This project leverages existing collaborations, clinical front-line connections and the expertise of genetics expert, Professor Robyn Jamieson, Director of the Western Sydney Genetics program and Head of CMRI’s Eye Genetics Unit. This represents a unique and specialised confluence not available at any other medical research institution.

To find out more about the Foundation and the projects it funds, please visit foundationforchildren.com.au