The vision of the Macular Society is to end macular disease through funding world-class medical research.

On this page:

World-class medical research

All our research is aimed at improving the treatment of or quality of life for patients with macular disease.

  • We fund projects investigating the causes of macular disease, which are crucial to making discoveries that will lead to new treatments.
  • We fund projects developing exciting new treatments, such as gene editing for macular dystrophies or new drugs for AMD (age-related macular degeneration).
  • Through our PhD studentships we support researchers at the beginning of their careers, so that there are more people working to beat macular disease.
  • We collaborate with other research funders to multiply our money and make our support go further.

Our research funding has led to outcomes which will make very real differences for people with macular disease, now and in the future. You can read more about this in our Research Impact report which can be downloaded below.

Our priorities and how we will make the biggest possible impact for people with macular disease are set out in our Research Strategy 2020-2030 which can be downloaded below.

You can read more about the projects we are funding here.

How do people with macular disease become involved in research?

People with macular disease are a key part of research, whether donating to fund projects, taking part in clinical trials or giving researchers the benefit of their experience of living with sight loss.

To learn more about how to get involved in research, visit our Get involved in research section.

Action Against AMD

Four charities, the Macular Society, Blind Veterans UK, Fight for Sight and Sight Scotland Veterans have come together to transform the funding of research on age-related macular degeneration (AMD).

The collaboration, called Action Against AMD, aims to develop a treatment that will stop or significantly slow the progression of AMD so it doesn’t advance into its late, sight-threatening stage.

The four charities co-funded a three-year development project, worth £1m. You can learn more about the work that is now underway on the Action Against AMD website.

Research news

New discoveries are being made all the time and clinical trials are testing potential new treatments. To keep up to date with the latest news, please see our Research news page.

Downloads

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Professor Luminita Paraoan and her team, University of Liverpool

Our research projects

Since 1987 the Macular Society has invested around £10 million in over 100 research projects.

micro biologist with petri dish

Get involved in research

Patients have a very important part to play in medical research. Without them we would not have the treatments we have today and new and improved treatments would not be possible.

Researcher looking at notes

Research news

The latest developments in the search for better treatments and a cure for macular disease.

Dean Hallam Lako Project

Research features

The truth behind the headlines on sight loss, “cures” for blindness and research breakthroughs.