Matt Rutar, PhD, earned his doctorate in biomedical science from the Australian National University (ANU) in Canberra in 2011 at the Research School of Biology. Following the completion of his PhD, Dr. Rutar took up a postdoctoral position at the John Curtin School of Medical Research at ANU to further pursue his interest in vision sciences, particularly retinal degenerative diseases. After several fruitful years, including leading an independently funded research team with grants from the Ophthalmic Research Institute of Australia and Retina Australia, Dr. Rutar relocated to the University of Melbourne in 2016 to continue his study of ocular disorders. During this time, he established his own laboratory in the Department of Anatomy and Neuroscience, supported by project grant funding from the National Health and Medical Research Council.
Dr. Rutar moved his laboratory to the University of Canberra after accepting the position of assistant professor within the Faculty of Science and Technology in 2021. The major goal of his research is to understand the molecular and cellular factors that underscore vision-threatening retinal diseases. Presently, this work focuses on the immunological landscape of the eye, as well as the environmental and neurodegenerative indicators that orchestrate inflammation in the retina. Ultimately, Dr. Rutar's work aims to uncover new processes of immune regulation in the retina, while simultaneously harnessing this knowledge to develop more effective therapies for age-related macular degeneration.