Foundation Fighting Blindness Announcements to Start Off Spring

Foundation Fighting Blindness Announcements to Start Off Spring

Announcements:

  1. Updates to My Retina Tracker Genetic Testing Program – The Foundation Fighting Blindness and Blueprint Genetics launch genetic testing and registry enhancements
  2. Retinal Cell and Gene Therapy Innovation Summit – Annual summit where biotech and pharma industries discuss emerging ocular gene and cell therapies
  3. Eye on the Cure Podcast, Episode 43: Marinna Madrid, PhD – Co-founder and chief product officer at Cellino, talks about her company’s innovative approach for manufacturing personalized cell-based therapies including those for retinal diseases - https://tinyurl.com/eocep43

Updates to My Retina Tracker Program

The Foundation Fighting Blindness and Blueprint Genetics launched new enhancements to the My Retina Tracker program effective April 1st that will streamline the process for patients receiving genetic testing to become part of the Foundation’s My Retina Tracker Registry.

The new protocol requires physicians to collect patient information through a questionnaire regarding the patient’s symptoms as well as medical and family history. All information gathered will be used to create a new record in the My Retina Tracker Registry, enabling the patient to join the Registry upfront. As a reminder, all records uploaded to the registry are de-identified and stored safely to be shared with researchers and clinicians for potential clinical trials. Patients will be required to sign a HIPAA authorization form and consent to being enrolled in the My Retina Tracker Registry. Enrollment in the Registry is now mandatory to receive free genetic testing.

This update to the My Retina Tracker program will incentivize more patients to join the My Retina Tracker Registry and strengthen the Foundation’s efforts in finding treatments and cures for IRDs.

For more information, please contact coordinator@MyRetinaTracker.org

Retinal Cell and Gene Therapy Innovation Summit

The annual Retinal Cell and Gene Therapy Innovation Summit is jointly organized by the Foundation Fighting Blindness and the Oregon Health & Science University (OHSU) Casey Eye Institute. Representatives from the biotech and pharma industries come together with physicians and scientists to discuss rapidly emerging ocular gene and cell therapies and strategize how to move the most advanced retinal disease therapy options forward. Summit attendees discuss the progress being made in the field and how to use initial successes to move forward larger scale trials. This year’s Innovation Summit is sold out.

Eye on the Cure Podcast, Episode 43: Marinna Madrid, PhD

Marinna Madrid, PhD, co-founder and chief product officer at Cellino, talks about her groundbreaking work in developing lasers as a doctoral student and her company’s innovative approach for manufacturing personalized cell-based therapies including those for retinal diseases.

To listen, please visit https://tinyurl.com/eocep43