Translational Asian Age Related Macular Degeneration Programme (TAAP)

Overview

Professor Gemmy Cheung, head of SNEC’s medical retina department, and her team secured the prestigious $25 million open fund large collaborative grant from the National Medical Research Council for the second phase of the Translational Asian Age-related Macular Degeneration Programme (TAAP-2).

Vision

To reduce the number of people suffering vision loss due to Age-related Macular Degeneration (AMD).

Aims

TAAP-2 aims to address the major unmet clinical needs and scientific gaps in AMD in Asians, which remains a leading cause of blindness in elderly people in Singapore, the Asia-Pacific and globally.

TAAP-2 builds on the success and research outcomes of the first phase (TAAP-1, a $24 million grant). The research work in TAAP-2 is organised under four themes, each aiming to address a key aspect of unmet need.

Theme 1 Early Diagnosis aims to improve understanding of risk factors and develop screening protocols to identify at-risk populations. Early diagnosis of AMD will lead to improved cost-effectiveness of intervention.
- Theme PIs: Dr Tham Yih Chung, Prof Gemmy Cheung and Assoc Prof Lian Leng Low
Theme 2 Personalised Therapy addresses the heterogenicity in phenotypes and treatment responses. With multiple intravitreal therapeutic agents becoming available, the team’s biomarker studies will develop guidelines for personalised therapy.
- Theme PIs: Prof Gemmy Cheung and Assoc Prof Fan Qiao
Theme 3 Develop Cutting-edge Diagnostics aims to advance the precision and accessibility of AMD diagnostics through novel imaging technologies.
- Theme PIs: Prof Leopold Schmetterer and Assoc Prof Jacqueline Chua
Theme 4 Novel Targets and Pathways and New Treatments focuses on understanding novel pathophysiological mechanism, developing novel therapies to address unmet medical needs, and identifying reliable biomarkers for disease prediction.
- Theme PIs: Assoc Prof Wang Xiaomeng, Assoc Prof Su Xinyi

Main Theme PIs. From left to right: Assoc Prof Low Lian Leng, Dr Fan Qiao, Assoc Prof Jacqueline Chua, Prof Gemmy Cheung, Assoc Prof Su Xinyi, Dr Tham Yih Chung.

Not in photo: Assoc Prof Wang Xiaomeng and Prof Leopold Schmetterer.

More about TAAP here

Article Title: Professor Gemmy Cheung – The Translational Asian Age-related Macular Degeneration Program: Improving Age-related Macular Degeneration Outcomes
Article Title: Evaluating Age-Related Macular Degeneration Outcomes with Novel Therapies

Media releases

Lianhe Zaobao
Title: 本地眼科团队再获2500万元经费研究老年黄斑病变
Mediacorp, Capital 958
Title: Interview with A/Prof Wang Xiaomeng and A/Prof Kelvin Teo on age-related macular degeneration
The Straits Times
Title: Another $25m for research to fight eye disease that affects up to one in 10 seniors
SingHealth Duke-NUS Academic Medicine Research Institute
Title: Translational Asian Age-relate Macular Degeneration Programme Phase 2 (TAAP-2)
SingVision Issue 1
Title: SERI unlocks AMD’s Genetic Secrets and Secures $25M Grant for Research Advancement.

Publications

Theme 1

Xue CC, Li H, Yu M, Chong CCY, Fan Q, Tham YC, Cheung CMG, Wong TY, Chew EY, Cheng CY. Omega-3 Fatty Acids as Protective Factors for Age-related Macular Degeneration: Prospective Cohort and Mendelian Randomization Analyses. Ophthalmology. 2024 Dec 9:S0161-6420(24)00757-7.

Theme 2

Chong YJ, Teo KYC, Wong W, Tan ACS, Su X, Gilead N, Chan HH, Ibrahim F, Fenner B, Ong C, Sun C, Sim S, Chee C, Chakravarthy U, Cheung CMG. Aflibercept with vs without Reduced-fluence Photodynamic Therapy for Polypoidal Choroidal Vasculopathy: A Randomized Clinical Trial. JAMA Ophthalmol. 2025 Mar 27:e250250. doi: 10.1001/jamaophthalmol.2025.0250.
Cheung CM et al. Sozinibercept (anti-VEGF-C/-D) Combined with Ranibizumab for Polypoidal Choroidal Vasculopathy: Phase 2b Predefined Subgroup Analysis. Ophthalmol Sci. 2025 Mar; 5(4):100759.
Teo KYC, Chong YJ, Cheung CMG. Subretinal Pigment Epithelium Optically Empty Structures in Polypoidal Choroidal Vasculopathy: A Novel Optical Coherence Tomography Finding. Retina. 2025 Mar 1;45(3):435-445.
Gilead N, Chong YJ, Ibrahim FNI, Sun C, Teo KYC, Cheung CMG. Unexpected Retinal Fluid Compartment Responses with Anti-VEGF Therapy in Polypoidal Choroidal Vasculopathy: A Case Report of Four Patients. Front Ophthalmol (Lausanne). 2024 Dec 18;4:1509065.
Cheung CMG, Chen Y, Holz F, Tsujikawa A, Sadda S. Geographic Atrophy in Asia. Graefes Arch Clin Exp Ophthalmol. 2025 Apr 16. doi: 10.1007/s00417-025-06817-6.
Ruamviboonsuk P, Ng DSC, Chaikitmongkol V, Chang A, Chen SJ, Chen Y, Cheung CMG, Gomi F, Guymer R, Kim JE, Koh A, Kokame GT, Lai CC, Lai TYY, Lee WK, Ogura Y, Sadda S, Teo KYC, Wong TY, Yanagi Y, Lam DSC. Consensus and Guidelines on Diagnosis and Management of Polypoidal Choroidal Vasculopathy (PCV) from the Asia-Pacific Vitreo-Retina Society (APVRS). Asia Pac J Ophthalmol (Phila). 2025 Jan-Feb;14(1):100144.

Theme 3

Sreng S, Ramesh P, Nam Phuong PD, Binte Abdul Gani NF, Chua J, Nongpiur ME, Aung T, Husain R, Schmetterer L, Wong D. Wide-field OCT Volumetric Segmentation using Semi-supervised CNN and Transformer Integration. Sci Rep. 2025 Feb 24;15(1):6676.
Bostan M, Li C, Cheong JW, Wong DWK, Tan B, Ismail MB, Garhöfer G, Coroleuca R, Schmetterer L, Popa-Cherecheanu A, Chua J. Longitudinal Analysis of Retinal and Choriocapillaris in Patients with Multiple Sclerosis: A 3-year Study. J Neurol. 2025 Mar 1;272(3):237.
Bellemo V, Haindl R, Pramanik M, Liu L, Schmetterer L, Liu X. Complex Conjugate Removal in Optical Coherence Tomography using Phase Aware Generative Adversarial Network. J Biomed Opt. 2025.
Ke M, Jiang L, Barathi VA, Cheong J, Chua J, Schmetterer L, Leitgeb RA, Liu X. In vivo Retinal Melanin Detection with the Calibrated Depolarization Index in Polarization-sensitive Optical Coherence Tomography. J Biomed Opt. 2024 Dec;29(12):126001.
Chua J, Tan B, Wong D, Garhöfer G, Liew XW, Popa-Cherecheanu A, Loong Chin CW, Milea D, Li-Hsian Chen C, Schmetterer L. Optical Coherence Tomography Angiography of the Retina and Choroid in Systemic Diseases. Prog Retin Eye Res. 2024 Nov;103:101292.

Theme 4

Ali SM, Parikh BH, Tan QSW, Hübner B, Kozyrina AN, Banerjee A, Zhao J, Goh D, Bogireddi H, Yeo SW, Wong DSL, Xu J, Tran KC, Liu Z, Le YZ, Barathi VA, Cheong KH, Di Russo J, Ludwig A, Hunziker W, Su X. ZO-1/Tjp1 and ZO-2/Tjp2 Deletion in Retinal Pigment Epithelium Causes Progressive Retinal Degeneration. iScience. 2025 Oct 3;28(11):113673.