Abstract: Neurodegenerative diseases account for a large and increasing health and economic burden worldwide. With an increasingly aged population, this burden is set to increase. Optic neuropathies make up a large proportion of neurodegenerative diseases with glaucoma being highly prevalent. Glaucoma is characterized by the progressive dysfunction and loss of retinal ganglion cells and their axons which make up the optic nerve. It is the leading cause of irreversible vision loss and affects an estimated 80 million people. The mammalian central nervous system is non-regenerative and, once lost or injured, retinal ganglion cells cannot regenerate an axon into the optic nerve under basal conditions. Thus, strategies that provide neuroprotection to stressed, dysfunctional, or dying retinal ganglion cells are likely to be of high therapeutic and translational value. Advancing age, genetics, and elevated intraocular pressure are all major risk factors for glaucoma, however, all clinically available glaucoma treatments focus on intraocular pressure management and do not directly address the neurodegenerative component of glaucoma.