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The Crick magazine, spring 2026

Satellite Crick Group Leader and Professor of Molecular Ophthalmology at UCL

Crick Lectures are delivered by leading internationally-renowned scientists from the Francis Crick Institute and elsewhere and cover the full spectrum of biomedical research. They aim to be relatively accessible to scientists in all biomedical disciplines, whilst also offering something for the specialist.

The talks are open to scientists from other institutes and universities from across London and beyond. You should have a minimum of graduate-level biological knowledge to attend and fully engage with these talks. Find out how to attend here. 

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Mariya Moosajee is a Clinician Scientist with a BSc, MBBS and PhD from Imperial College London. After completing her Ophthalmology Specialist Training, in 2011 she was awarded an NIHR Academic Clinical Lectureship at the NIHR Biomedical Research Centre at Moorfields Eye Hospital and UCL Institute of Ophthalmology, during which she established her own research group in the department of Ocular Biology and Therapeutics. In 2015, she became a Fellow of the Royal College of Ophthalmologists, and undertook her clinical fellowship at Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children in Paediatric Ophthalmology and Adult Retinal Genetics at Moorfields Eye Hospital.

In 2016, Mariya was awarded a Wellcome Trust Clinical Research Development Fellowship to unravel the molecular complexity behind ocular maldevelopment and normal human eye development. Alongside this, Mariya has also received a NIHR Rare Disease Translational Research Collaboration Award to support translation of small molecule drugs for the treatment of inherited retinal disease such as Choroideremia and Usher syndrome. Following a five-year secondment to the Crick, she is now a Satellite Group Leader here.

Mariya's ultimate goal is to improve the lives of patients with genetic eye diseases, a significant cause of blindness amongst children and adults worldwide for which there are limited treatment options. Her lab studies the causes of these diseases by analysing patient genomes and using disease models including zebrafish and patient-derived human stem cells to model early eye development.

Through investigating disease mechanisms, Mariya hopes to identify potential new treatment options. One area she is particularly interested in is the development of non-viral gene therapy for inherited retinal diseases. The aim is to improve gene delivery to the retina and assess the response to foreign DNA of photoreceptors, in order to minimise harm and find straightforward and safe ways to get these treatments into the clinic. 

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