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Elizabeth Rakoczy

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Elizabeth P. Rakoczy (née Piroska E. Szepessy) is a Hungarian-born molecular ophthalmologist, and gene therapy and animal model development researcher. She is a professor at the University of Western Australia and is the founding director of the molecular ophthalmology department at the Lions Eye Institute. In 2017, Rakoczy was awarded the Florey Medal for her human gene therapy trial modifying viruses to treat wet age-related macular degeneration.

Career

Rakoczy was born is Miskolc, Hungary.[citation needed] She is the founder of the Department of Molecular Ophthalmology at the Lions Eye Institute.[1] She is also Professor of Molecular Ophthalmology at the University of Western Australia.[2] She was the Research Director of the Lions Eye Institute and the Centre of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences between 1999-2009 overseeing the expansion and modernisation of research via the introduction of genetics and modern molecular biological techniques. Rakoczy's research focuses on on gene therapy and animal model development. Her laboratory developed the ’Kimba’ and ‘Akimba’ mouse models for advanced retinal neovascularization and licensed it to 11 universities and 4 pharmaceutical companies. She pioneered the concept of mutation-independent gene therapy called secretion gene therapy or ‘biofactory’ for the treatment of wet age related macular degeneration.[3][4][5] In 2011 the technology was licensed to Avalanche Biotechnologies Inc., (now Adverum Biotechnologies) CA, USA [6], which used the technology to list on NASDAQ in 2014, raising ~$300 Million. Rakoczy has published more than 180 scientific papers[7] in academic journals[8] and several patents.

Awards and honors

Rakoczy was a Bede Morris fellow of the Australian Academy of Science in 1998 and the National Health and Medical Research Council of Australia ‘Ten of the Best’ award winner in 2005 and winner of the CSL Florey Medal in 2017 for her human gene therapy trial modifying viruses to treat wet age-related macular degeneration.[9][10]

Personal life

Elizabeth is married to Steve Rakoczy (inventor and CEO of Almos System/Technologies), and has two children. She is a sailor, somewhat of a gym junkie and an avid reader. She also writes sailing adventures.[11][12]

References

  1. ^ "Research Centre - Lions Eye Institute". Lions Eye Institute. Retrieved 2018-05-31.
  2. ^ "Socrates: Research Management Application". www.socrates.uwa.edu.au. Retrieved 2018-05-31.
  3. ^ Elizabeth Rakoczy (2015-03-18), Explaining gene therapy for wet AMD, retrieved 2018-05-31
  4. ^ Rakoczy, Elizabeth P; Lai, Chooi-May; Magno, Aaron L; Wikstrom, Matthew E; French, Martyn A; Pierce, Cora M; Schwartz, Steven D; Blumenkranz, Mark S; Chalberg, Thomas W (2015-12). "Gene therapy with recombinant adeno-associated vectors for neovascular age-related macular degeneration: 1 year follow-up of a phase 1 randomised clinical trial". The Lancet. 386 (10011): 2395–2403. doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(15)00345-1. ISSN 0140-6736. {{cite journal}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  5. ^ Constable, Ian J.; Pierce, Cora M.; Lai, Chooi-May; Magno, Aaron L.; Degli-Esposti, Mariapia A.; French, Martyn A.; McAllister, Ian L.; Butler, Steve; Barone, Samuel B. (2016-11-10). "Phase 2a Randomized Clinical Trial: Safety and Post Hoc Analysis of Subretinal rAAV.sFLT-1 for Wet Age-related Macular Degeneration". EBioMedicine. 14: 168–175. doi:10.1016/j.ebiom.2016.11.016. ISSN 2352-3964. PMC 5161436. PMID 27865764.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: PMC format (link)
  6. ^ "Home - Adverum Biotechnologies". Adverum Biotechnologies. Retrieved 2018-05-31.
  7. ^ PhD, Piroska Elizabeth RakoczyUniversity of Western Australia | UWA · Lions Eye Institute 40 88 ·. "Piroska Elizabeth Rakoczy | PhD | University of Western Australia, Perth | UWA | Lions Eye Institute". ResearchGate. Retrieved 2018-05-31.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  8. ^ Rakoczy, Elizabeth P; Lai, Chooi-May; Magno, Aaron L; Wikstrom, Matthew E; French, Martyn A; Pierce, Cora M; Schwartz, Steven D; Blumenkranz, Mark S; Chalberg, Thomas W (2015-12). "Gene therapy with recombinant adeno-associated vectors for neovascular age-related macular degeneration: 1 year follow-up of a phase 1 randomised clinical trial". The Lancet. 386 (10011): 2395–2403. doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(15)00345-1. ISSN 0140-6736. {{cite journal}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  9. ^ "CSL Florey Medal - AIPS". AIPS. Retrieved 2018-05-31.
  10. ^ "Researcher who uses viruses for good wins CSL Florey Medal". Radio National. 2017-12-07. Retrieved 2018-06-02.
  11. ^ "Fenix II ARC - Liz/Steve Rakoczy". blog.mailasail.com. Retrieved 2018-05-31.
  12. ^ "Austin Macauley Publishers || Books, eBooks & audiobooks". www.austinmacauley.com. Retrieved 2018-05-31.
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