Colleges
BIOGRAPHY
Dr Kapetanovic is an MRC Clinician Scientist and a Consultant Ophthalmic Surgeon at Nuffield Laboratory of Ophthalmology where she leads The Interventional Genetics and Robotics for Retinal Disease Research Group. Kapetanovic group focuses on developing groundbreaking therapies for inherited and acquired retinal degeneration and robotic delivery approaches to treat blindness. Kapetanovic received her undergraduate (MA in Physiological Sciences, Balliol College) and medical degrees at the University of Oxford. She was awarded the UK's first NIHR integrated clinical academic fellowship programme in ophthalmology and has since awarded Masters in Investigative Ophthalmology and Visual Science (First Class) and a PhD in Medicine (gene therapy and optogenetics) via the MRC Clinical Research Training Fellowship at the University of Manchester, UK. Her PhD in optogenetic vision restoration was awarded the prestigious Russell Medal for the best UK paper in vision research and several outstanding awards including the MRC Centenary Award and Retinitis Pigmentosa Fighting Blindness Award. As a Keeler scholar at the University of California, Berkeley, she conducted a post-doctoral fellowship into vector biology for therapeutic delivery to retina. She completed the specialist training and was admitted as a fellow (FRCOphth) into the UK Royal College of Ophthalmologists and has won over 30 awards during her early career as an academic ophthalmologist. She is a Consultant Ophthalmic Surgeon specialised in cataract and vitreoretinal surgery, and as an MRC Clinician Scientist she is currently working on developing innovative surgical techniques including robot-assisted retinal surgery for future applications in genetic therapies.
Websites
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Nature Biomedical Engineering
Sight Restoring approaches
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Ocular Surgery News
Enormous’ potential of robotics opens door to next revolution in eye surgery
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CLINICAL TRIALS
Co-Principal Investigator
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Be part of the next breakthrough
CHOROIDEREMIA RESEARCH
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FIGHT FOR SIGHT
Dr Kapetanovic's FIGHT FOR SIGHT
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BBC News
First in-human gene therapy for AMD
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Foundation Fighting Blindness
Robot Assisted Retinal Surgery
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Optogenetics: From Neuronal Function to Mapping and Disease Biology
Cambridge University Press
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Cure for Blindness
Mirror
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Sight Restoring Treatment Hits a Nerve
Optometry Today
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Moving Closer to Curing Common Cause of Blindness
Neuroscience News
Jasmina Cehajic Kapetanovic
M.A. Phy. Sci., B.M. B.Ch. Oxon., M.Sc. I.O.V.S., M.R.C.Ophth., Ph.D., F.R.C.Ophth.
MRC Clinician Scientist and Consultant Vitreo-Retinal Surgeon
- BRC Lead for Innovation and Precision Surgery
- MRC CoRE Therapeutic Genomics Co-Lead
Restoring Vision with Genetic Therapies and Robotics
RESEARCH
Kapetanovic's research focuses on vision restoration by interventional genetics and robotics. She works on developing therapies for inherited retinal degenerations, the leading cause of blindness in the working population, as well as therapies for more common forms of blindness, the age related macular degeneration (AMD), retinal vein occlusions and glaucoma. Kapetanovic has previously led pioneering gene therapy trials with Robert MacLaren for choroideremia, RPGR X-linked retinitis pigmentosa and dry AMD at clinical centres at Oxford, Manchester and the Moorfields Eye Hospital in London. She was also involved in retinal prosthesis and robotic eye surgery trials. Kapetanovic now leads independent programmes in basic science research, translational research and clinical trials for retinal disease.
SELECTED RECENT AWARDS
The 2024 Manchester Vision Keynote Award
The 2023 German Ophthalmic Surgery Society Keynote Lecture Award on Robotic Eye Surgery.
The 2023 Thomas Willis Intermediate Career Researcher Prize Winner, Oxford University.
The 2023 Ruskell Medal for the best published paper in vision sciences (awarded to co-author Dr Cristina Martinez), The Worshipful Company of Spectacle Makers Research Awards, UK
The 2020 Ruskell Medal Runner Up, The Worshipful Company of Spectacle Makers Research Awards, UK
American Society of Gene and Cell Therapy Excellence in Research Award, 2020
American Society of Gene and Cell Therapy Meritorious Abstract Travel Award, 2020
Global Ophthalmology Awards Programme Fellowship, Bayer, 2018/2019
International Congress of Ophthalmological Societies Research Award, 2017
The Academy of Medical Sciences Research Prize, London, 2017
The 2016 Ruskell Medal, The Worshipful Company of Spectacle Makers Research Awards, London
Key publications
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Initial results from a first-in-human gene therapy trial on X-linked retinitis pigmentosa caused by mutations in RPGR
Journal article
Cehajic-Kapetanovic J. et al, (2020), Nature Medicine, 26, 354 - 359
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Restoration of Vision with Ectopic Expression of Human Rod Opsin
Journal article
Cehajic-Kapetanovic J. et al, (2015), Current Biology, 25, 2111 - 2122
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Bioengineering strategies for restoring vision.
Journal article
Cehajic-Kapetanovic J. et al, (2022), Nat Biomed Eng
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First-In-Human Robot-Assisted Subretinal Drug Delivery Under Local Anaesthesia A Randomised Clinical Trial.
Journal article
Cehajic-Kapetanovic J. et al, (2021), Am J Ophthalmol
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Optogenetic Gene Therapy for the Degenerate Retina: Recent Advances
Journal article
McClements ME. et al, (2020), Frontiers in Neuroscience, 14
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Genome-Editing Strategies for Treating Human Retinal Degenerations
Journal article
Quinn J. et al, (2021), Human Gene Therapy, 32, 247 - 259
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Highest reported visual acuity after electronic retinal implantation
Journal article
Cehajic Kapetanovic J. et al, (2020), Acta Ophthalmologica, 98, 736 - 740
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Efficacy and Safety of Glycosidic Enzymes for Improved Gene Delivery to the Retina following Intravitreal Injection in Mice
Journal article
Cehajic-Kapetanovic J. et al, (2018), Molecular Therapy - Methods & Clinical Development, 9, 192 - 202
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Impaired glutamylation of RPGR ORF15 underlies the cone-dominated phenotype associated with truncating distal ORF15 variants
Journal article
Cehajic-Kapetanovic J. et al, (2022), Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 119
Recent publications
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XOLARIS: A 24-Month, Prospective, Natural History Study of 201 Participants with Retinitis Pigmentosa GTPase Regulator-Associated X-Linked Retinitis Pigmentosa
Journal article
MacLaren RE. et al, (2025), Ophthalmology Science, 5, 100595 - 100595
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Real-world six-month outcomes in patients switched to faricimab following partial response to anti-VEGF therapy for neovascular age-related macular degeneration and diabetic macular oedema.
Journal article
Borchert GA. et al, (2024), Eye (Lond)
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A novel frameshift variant in LAMP2 gene mimicking choroideremia carrier retinopathy
Journal article
Narayan A. et al, (2024), Ophthalmic Genetics, 1 - 8
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Multimodal Evaluation and Management of Wagner Syndrome—Three Patients from an Affected Family
Journal article
Szeligowski T. et al, (2024), Genes, 15, 1178 - 1178
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Expanding the genotypic and phenotypic spectra with a novel variant in the ciliopathy gene, CFAP410, associated with selective cone degeneration.
Journal article
Borchert GA. et al, (2024), Ophthalmic Genet, 1 - 7
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Establishing Clinical Trial Endpoints in Selecting Patients for RPGR Retinal Gene Therapy.
Journal article
Christou EE. et al, (2024), Transl Vis Sci Technol, 13
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Assessment of Visual Function with Cotoretigene Toliparvovec in X-Linked Retinitis Pigmentosa in the Randomized XIRIUS Phase 2/3 Study
Journal article
Lam BL. et al, (2024), Ophthalmology, 131, 1083 - 1093
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Genetic therapies and potential therapeutic applications of CRISPR activators in the eye.
Journal article
Ng BW. et al, (2024), Prog Retin Eye Res, 102
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Retinal Focal Nodular Gliosis (Vasoproliferative Tumors) Have Varied Clinical Courses Requiring Tailored Management: A Case Series.
Journal article
Ie A. et al, (2024), Ocul Oncol Pathol, 10, 175 - 181
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Robotising vitreoretinal surgeries.
Journal article
Mi H. et al, (2024), Eye (Lond)