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About
Dr Elsa Chan
Research Fellow, Ocular Antifibrosis
Dr Elsa Chan is a Research Fellow at CERA, investigating novel therapies to reduce and treat ocular inflammation and scarring.
Dr Elsa Chan
Research Fellow, Ocular Antifibrosis
BSc (Hons), PhD
Dr Elsa Chan is a Research Fellow exploring pathology in eye diseases associated with inflammation and scarring, and working to develop novel therapies for the treatment of eye diseases such as ocular fibrosis.
She completed both Bachelor and postgraduate degrees at the University of Melbourne. Her research in the field of signalling or implication of oxidative stress in artery diseases was initially in the cardiovascular area, before joining CERA in 2012 and focusing on the eye.
Dr Chan is currently investigating new drugs that could reduce postoperative scarring in patients following glaucoma filtration surgery. She is also researching new anti-fibrotic drugs that advance current therapy for the treatment of corneal neovascularisation and scarring caused by chemical burn injury.
Dr Chan engages in commercialisation projects on drug evaluation in cell cultures and pre-clinical models of eye diseases, such as corneal injury and diabetic retinopathy.
She is interested in supervising undergraduate and postgraduate students.
Key research questions
- How can we reduce postoperative scarring in patients following glaucoma filtration surgery?
- Can new anti-fibrotic drugs advance current therapy for the treatment of corneal neovascularisation and scarring caused by chemical burn injury?
Current projects
Selected publications
Key collaborators
Funding and support
Current projects
A new drug to control scarring after glaucoma surgery
Scarring is a major problem in glaucoma surgery as it often causes surgery failure. We found a protein that promotes scarring and have identified a compound that blocks this specific protein. We will assess whether this compound can be used to limit scarring in glaucoma surgery.
Selected publications
Balachandra et al. A biocompatible reverse thermoresponsive polymer for ocular drug delivery. Drug Deliv. 2019;26(1):343-353. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/30905169/
Kong et al. Oral administration of the novel small molecule drug OCX063 protects against inflammation and vascular pathology in a rat diabetic retinopathy (DR) model Invest Ophthalmol Vis Sci. 2017; 60(9):5356. https://iovs.arvojournals.org/article.aspx?articleid=2744683
Brown et al. Transforming Growth Factor β1-Induced NADPH Oxidase-4 Expression and Fibrotic Response in Conjunctival Fibroblasts. Invest Ophthalmol Vis Sci. 2017; 58(7):3011. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/28605812/
Chan EC et al. NADPH oxidase 2 plays a role in experimental corneal neovascularization. Clin Sci (Lond). 2016; 130(9):683. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/26814205/
Chan EC et al. Redox mechanisms in pathological angiogenesis in the retina: roles for NADPH oxidase. Curr Pharm Des. 2015;21(41):5988. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/26510439/
Chan et al. Nox isoforms in thickened tissue. Exp Dermatol. 2015 Feb;24(2):97. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/25406961/
Key collaborators
- OccuRx
Funding and support
Thank you to the following organisations for their support:
- The Ophthalmic Research Institute of Australia (ORIA)
Contact Dr Elsa Chan
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