Newcastle University

Inherited Blindness and LHON Research Fund

Newcastle University established the LHON Fund in 2008 to support research into the genetic basis of Leber's Hereditary Optic Neuropathy (LHON) with the main aim of finding effective treatments for this blinding mitochondrial disorder.

Thanks to the donations from individual fundraisers, such as founding donor James Ferguson, as well as other organisations and charities we are raising much needed funds to support the team at Newcastle working on this debilitating disease.

Some patients are also unfortunate to suffer from severe loss of vision from other inherited forms of mitochondrial blindness, such as autosomal dominant optic atrophy (DOA) and Wolfram syndrome. Unfortunately, there are limited treatment options that are currently available for both LHON and these other inherited forms of blindness.

Led by Professor Patrick Chinnery and Dr Patrick Yu-Wai-Man, the central goal of the Newcastle team is to develop new effective treatments by better understanding the disease mechanisms involved in this group of disorders and how the optic nerve gets damaged to cause loss of vision.

The generous donations made to the Inherited Blindness and LHON Research Funds have enabled Newcastle researchers to look at the effectiveness of drugs that could protect retinal ganglion cells - the specialised cells within the optic nerve which are damaged in LHON and other inherited forms of blindness. We work with patients and supporters to increase funding for our work and we believe in the positive benefit of fundraising for this cause.