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About
Associate Professor Chi Luu
Deputy Head of Macular Research
Associate Professor Chi Luu is a clinician scientist with a research focus on age-related macular degeneration (AMD) and vision restoration strategies for inherited retinal degenerative conditions.
Associate Professor Chi Luu
Deputy Head of Macular Research
BOrth(Hons), GradDip(Epi&Biostats), PhD, FARVO
Associate Professor Chi Luu is Deputy Head of the Macular Research Unit at CERA and a Principal Research Fellow in the Department of Surgery (Ophthalmology) at the University of Melbourne.
His research interests include age-related macular degeneration (AMD) and vision restoration approaches for blinding retinal conditions. He conducts both preclinical and clinical studies to better understand the pathophysiology of disease, and to evaluate safety and efficacy of novel interventions.
A/Prof Luu’s expertise includes retinal and cortical electrophysiology, visual psychophysics (dark-adaptation and scotopic chromatic perimetry), retinal imaging (OCT), and microsurgery for device implantation and delivering drugs to the retina by microinjection technique in preclinical models.
In recognition of his contributions to eye research, he has recently been elected as a member of the Macula Society and a Fellow of the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology (FARVO).
Key research questions
- How can we identify who among patients with early stages of AMD are at a high-risk of progression to visual threatening late AMD?
- What is the pathophysiology of different AMD phenotypes?
- How can we monitor AMD progression more effectively?
- How do we slow down the progression of AMD?
- What is the most effective way to extend the visual life of patients with blinding eye conditions?
- How to improve the resolution of a bionic eye (retinal prosthesis)?
- How can we use cellular reprogramming and gene therapy to develop new treatments for retinal diseases?
Current projects
Selected publications
Key collaborators
Funding and support
Current projects
- Investigating the pathophysiology of different AMD phenotypes.
- Studying structural and functional biomarkers of AMD progression.
- Investigating the functional biomarkers for AMD using psychophysical tests, OCT imaging (in collaboration with Dr Sarah Thiele, University of Bonn) and multi-spectral functional imaging (with A/Prof Peter van Wijngaarden and Dr Xavier Hadoux, CERA).
- Preclinical study on safety and efficacy of novel interventions for AMD.
- Investigating ways to retain and restore vision from blinding eye conditions using electrotherapeutic approach (retinal prosthesis and neuroprotective stimulation)
- Investigating cellular reprogramming to restore vision from blinding eye conditions (in collaboration with Dr Raymond Wong, CERA).
- Investigating gene therapy approaches for blinding eye conditions (with Dr Tom Edwards, CERA).
Selected publications
Guymer RH, Wu Z, Hodgson LAB, Caruso E, Brassington KH, Tindill N, Aung KZ, McGuinness MB, Fletcher EL, Chen FK, Chakravarthy U, Arnold JJ, Heriot WJ, Durkin SR, Lek JJ, Harper CA, Wickremasinghe SS, Sandhu SS, Baglin EK, Sharangan P, Braat S, Luu CD, Laser Intervention in Early Stages of Age-Related Macular Degeneration Study G. Subthreshold nanosecond laser intervention in age-related macular degeneration: The LEAD randomized controlled clinical trial. Ophthalmology 2019;126:829-838. doi: 10.1016/j.ophtha.2018.09.015
Tan R, Guymer RH, Luu CD. Subretinal drusenoid deposits and the loss of rod function in intermediate age-related macular degeneration. Invest Ophthalmol Vis Sci 2018;59:4154-4161. doi: 10.1167/iovs.18-23970
Luu CD, Tan R, Caruso E, Fletcher EL, Lamb TD, Guymer RH. Topographic rod recovery profiles after a prolonged dark adaptation in subjects with reticular pseudodrusen. Ophthalmology Retina 2018;2:1206-1217. doi: 10.1016/j.oret.2018.06.016
Ayton LN, Blamey PJ, Guymer RH, Luu CD, Nayagam DA, Sinclair NC, Shivdasani MN, Yeoh J, McCombe MF, Briggs RJ, Opie NL, Villalobos J, Dimitrov PN, Varsamidis M, Petoe MA, McCarthy CD, Walker JG, Barnes N, Burkitt AN, Williams CE, Shepherd RK, Allen PJ. First-in-human trial of a novel suprachoroidal retinal prosthesis. PLoS One 2014;9:e115239. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0115239
Barathi VA, Yeo SW, Guymer RH, Wong TY, Luu CD. Effects of simvastatin on retinal structure and function of a high-fat atherogenic mouse model of thickened Bruch’s membrane. Invest Ophthalmol Vis Sci 2014;55:460-468. doi: 10.1167/iovs.13-11636
Wu Z, Ayton LN, Guymer RH, Luu CD. Relationship between the second reflective band on optical coherence tomography and multifocal electroretinography in age-related macular degeneration. Invest Ophthalmol Vis Sci 2013;54:2800-2806. doi: 10.1167/iovs.13-11613
Shivdasani MN, Luu CD, Cicione R, Fallon JB, Allen PJ, Leuenberger J, Suaning GJ, Lovell NH, Shepherd RK, Williams CE. Evaluation of stimulus parameters and electrode geometry for an effective suprachoroidal retinal prosthesis. Journal of neural engineering 2010;7:036008. doi: 10.1088/1741-2560/7/3/036008
See more publications
Key collaborators
- A/Prof Penny Allen
- Dr Raymond Wong
- Dr Thomas Edwards
- A/Prof Peter van Wijngaarden
- Dr Xavier Hadoux, CERA
- Dr Sarah Thiele, University of Bonn
- Dr VA Barathi, Singapore Eye Research Institute
Funding and support
Thank you to the following organisations for their support:
- NHMRC Development Grant
- BrightFocus Foundation
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