Fight for Sight Research Awards - £500,000 funding for new PhD studentships

Fight for Sight, the UK's leading charity dedicated to funding world class research into the prevention and treatment of blindness and eye disease, announces the award of  five PhD studentships for the academic year starting in October 2009.  Totalling nearly £500,000, the grants are for research that will be carried out at the UCL Institute of Ophthalmology, London, the Nuffield Laboratory of Ophthalmology at the University of Oxford, and the Centre for Vision and Vascular Science at Queen’s University Belfast.

The awards will enable researchers to help develop new treatments for patients with conditions affecting the retina (including retinitis pigmentosa, age-related macular degeneration and diabetic retinopathy) and affecting the cornea (including keratoconus and corneal dystrophies).  In addition, one of the projects will look at improving the quality of corneas donated for transplantation.  At present, up to one-third of donated corneas are unusable due to damage and deterioration.

Commenting on the awards, Michèle Acton, Chief Executive of Fight for Sight, said: ‘We had an impressive field of candidates this year and competition was strong. We are very pleased to be able to make these awards enabling vital research to be undertaken into a range of eye diseases and causes of blindness and also to build capacity in eye research.   The outcome of the research funded by Fight for Sight can offer real hope to patients currently affected by vision loss, a condition that can have a devastating effect upon people’s way of life and independence.’

The awards, tenable over three years, have been made to the following scientists who will each appoint a PhD student under their supervision.

Professor Robin Ali and Mr Frank Larkin, UCL Institute of Ophthalmology, London: an award of £92,996 for research into a viral gene therapy that could enhance the quality of donor corneas stored in eye banks, leading to less wastage, and also improved functionality and longevity for transplanted corneas.

Professor Mike Cheetham, UCL Institute of Ophthalmology, London: an award of £92,996 for research into key molecular components that help in the manufacture of rhodopsin within the cell and the protection against the formation of its faulty form.  Once identified, these components will be targets for new therapies to treat rhodopsin retinitis pigmentosa, one of the most common causes of inherited blindness.

Mr Robert MacLaren, Nuffield Laboratory of Ophthalmology, University of Oxford:  an award of £92,590 for research into the loss of cone receptor cells from the retina.  This process, a major cause of blindness in the UK, can affect patients with age-related macular degeneration, diabetic retinopathy and retinitis pigmentosa.  The aim of the study is to identify a possible new clinical treatment particularly for patients with retinitis pigmentosa.

Professor Shin-ichi Ohnuma and Dr Yoshiyuki Yamamoto, UCL Institute of Ophthalmology, London: an award of £92,996 for a study into genetically determined diseases of the cornea that may lead to blindness. This research will explore options for therapies to treat these diseases.

Mr Colin Willoughby and Professor Anne Hughes, Centre for Vision and Vascular Science, Queen’s University Belfast: an award of £92,986 for research into keratoconus, an inherited disease which is the leading cause of corneal transplantation in the western world.  The study aims to identify the genetic basis of this condition, allowing the development of new therapies.

UK Keratoconus Self Help and Support Association

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For further information please contact Kay Dixon at Fight for Sight on
020 7929 7755 or press@fightforsight.org.uk or visit our website
www.fightforsight.org.uk

Notes for Editors
1. Fight for Sight is the UK's leading charity dedicated to funding world-class research into the prevention and treatment of blindness and eye disease. For over forty years the charity has been funding research into a wide-range of eye diseases including age related macular degeneration, retinitis pigmentosa, glaucoma, cataract, corneal and diabetic eye disease, as well as children's eye diseases.  Funded research is based at centres of excellence primarily across the UK and the charity's current research programme totals over £5 million.
2. Awards:  In order to ensure that the research funded is of the highest quality, Fight for Sight has established an extensive process of independent peer review. Fight for Sight is a member of the Association of Medical Research Charities (AMRC) and the charity’s peer review process complies with AMRC guidelines for best practice.
3. The UCL Institute of Ophthalmology, London, a world-leading centre for eye research, is one of a number of specialised biomedical research centres within UCL (University College London). The Institute is committed to a multi-disciplinary research portfolio that furthers an understanding of the eye and visual system linked with clinical investigations targeted to specific problems in the prevention and treatment of eye disease. Its collaboration with Moorfields Eye Hospital, which has the largest
ophthalmic patient population in the Western World, opens the way for advances at the forefront of translational vision research.
4. Nuffield Laboratory of Opthalmology, University of Oxford is part of the Medical Sciences Division of Oxford.  It has a number of active research groups engaged in broad scientific research in areas of the eye and vision, including neurobiology, glaucoma, cataract, molecular chaperones and tears.  It is responsible for teaching the principles and practices of ophthalmology to medical students during their clinical training.  
5.The Centre for Vision and Vascular Science, Queen’s University Belfast (CVS) is based at the Royal Victoria Hospital. Its research portfolio has emerged from an established programme in academic Ophthalmology and its primary focus is on major sight-threatening diseases of the retina and most current studies are concentrated on conditions such as diabetic retinopathy, proliferative retinopathies, age-related macular degeneration and single gene degenerative disorders. Within this unified theme, CVS has an annual grant income in excess of £1.5million/year covering laboratory-based cell and molecular studies in parallel with genetic, epidemiological and other clinical approaches.