AMD is the leading cause of blindness in people over 60 in the western world and the impact can be devastating. It damages central vision, making it difficult or even impossible to recognise faces and carry out everyday tasks such as reading and driving. This can lead to a loss of independence and have profound consequences for quality of life.

A group of related genes have been identified as leading to increased susceptibility to AMD, but we need to understand how or why these variants cause disease. The results from this project will provide new insights into the relationship between genes that are linked to AMD and their impact on the cells of the retina.