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34 Insight Magazine Winter 2025 Researchthe disease, they have a lifetime of treatments ahead of them, whether that%u2019s eye drops, laser or surgeries. As Lisa said, the current treatments lower eye pressure but don%u2019t treat the underlying issue causing glaucoma. Most of the current eye drops either reduce production of fluid or divert the drainage through an alternative route. It%u2019s possible both mechanisms are unhealthy for the eye longterm. In addition, eye drops affect the front surface of the eye. So, we have patients with a symptomless condition, and we%u2019re giving them symptoms such as sore eyes. It%u2019s not an ideal way to treat a disease!This new therapy might address the underlying causes of the raised eye pressure. We hope it will reduce the scarring and reverse some of the changes caused by the scarring. It may alter the natural progression of the disease, meaning people need fewer eye drops, and potentially less surgery in the future. The trabecular meshwork should act as a little pump, pumping the fluid out of the eye in concert with the heartbeat. We think that in glaucoma, some scarring happens which increases the stiffness of the meshwork. If the meshwork becomes stiffer, it can%u2019t pump effectively, so the pressure inside the eye increases and the optic nerve is damaged. We hope our new therapy will stop that scarring and return the meshwork to a healthy state. When might we expect to see some of your results?Hannah Botfield (HB): We%u2019re hoping the first stage of the project, looking at cell samples, will take around six months. We%u2019ll be seeing how the therapy gets into the eye and where it goes. Then we%u2019ll test it in our animal models, where we see how the therapy travels through the eye. We%u2019ll find out whether it improves drainage, lowers eye pressure and protects All photos in this articlecourtesy of Lisa Hill