Dr Pei Ying Lee Secures Two Grant Successes for Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease Research
Dr Pei Ying Lee, a research fellow from the Department of Optometry and Vision Sciences, has recently achieved two significant grant successes. These grants will support her innovative research projects focusing on Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease (CJD), a rare and fatal degenerative brain disease.
The Department of Optometry and Vision Sciences is excited to share that Dr Pei Ying Lee has been awarded a CJD Foundation Research Grant. This grant will fund a two-year project titled "Assessing retinal function as a potential early biomarker for Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease". Dr Lee will be collaborating with Associate Professor Christine Nguyen from the Department of Optometry and Vision Sciences, and Dr Laura Ellett and Professor Steven Collins from the Florey Institute.
Dr Pei Ying Lee has also secured the Kenneth Richard Styles MDHS Trust Fellowship. This two-year award will support her research, which is focused on using the eye as a potential early biomarker for Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease.
CJD is part of a group of diseases known as transmissible spongiform encephalopathies. Dr Lee's research aims to develop a novel approach using the eye as a non-invasive tool for early detection of this rapidly progressing brain condition. Misfolded prion proteins, which cause CJD, have been found in the retina, the part of the eye connected to the brain.
"Together with ocular biomarkers experts at our department and prion disease researchers at the Florey Institute, we hope to identify retinal markers before symptoms onset, potentially providing an opportunity to maximise treatment outcomes. We are honoured to receive funding support from the MDHS Trust and CJD Foundation to perform this research," said Dr Lee.
(From left to right) Dr Laura Ellett, Dr Pei Ying Lee, A/Prof Christine Nguyen
The department extends its warmest congratulations to Dr Pei Ying Lee on these grant successes and eagerly anticipates the outcomes of these projects.