Glen Jeffrey: Restoring Macular Degeneration

Glen Jeffrey is a Professor of Neuroscience in the Faculty of Brain Sciences and Institute of Ophthalmology at the University College London. His research focuses on areas including retinal structure, development and visual areas of the brain as well as comparative evolution of the brain. In the last decade, his work has been centred around public health, looking into cost-effective and safe ways to prevent and even reverse the increasingly common condition macular degeneration. His research has delved into the mechanisms that underpin the aging process and applied these findings to the most energy demanding cells in the body; the retinal cells.

In the last few years, Glen’s lab has been at the forefront of using light to restore the pathological condition of macular degeneration. By using wavelengths of red and near-infrared light at the correct time of day, Glen and his colleagues have shown that these wavelengths of light can help the organelles called mitochondria produce energy more efficiently, offsetting some of the damage caused by aging. This extremely low-cost modality with an unparalleled safety profile may indeed become something that is used widely in the future to prevent and restore metrics of vision in our aging population.