Fight for Sight has awarded Project Grants to six researchers across England and Scotland for stand-alone projects addressing understanding, diagnosis, prevention and treatment of eye conditions.
The Project Grant awards a maximum of £250,000 for up to three years, supporting the progression of novel, evidence-based ideas.
From AI diagnostic tools to gene-editing treatments, our grantees are paving the way for change for people with vision impairment.
The 2023/24 projects seeking to: ‘Save Sight. Change Lives’.
Improving the symptoms of uveitis
Who: Dr Gareth Jones
Where: University of Bristol
Award: £249,877
Dr Jones is investigating links between arthritis and uveitis - a significant cause of blindness.
Uveitis can have different causes, one of which is an auto-immune condition. Auto-immune conditions occur when the immune system mistakenly attacks the body’s cells, causing inflammation. While uveitis can be treated, if it isn’t treated properly, it can lead to severe complications such as cataracts.
In previous research, Dr Jones’ team found high levels of a specific protein produced by the immune system in both inflamed joints and eyes. Now, the team wants to see if reducing this protein's production may improve uveitis symptoms.
A potential alternative to corneal transplants
Who: Dr Ciro Chiappini
Where: King’s College London
Award: £250,000
Dr Chiappini is developing a treatment that aims to ‘correct’ the gene mutations causing inherited corneal dystrophies. It could create a potential alternative to human corneal transplants.
Inherited corneal dystrophies are where the clear tissue on the front of the eye becomes misshapen or blurry, causing vision impairment. Currently, those affected are reliant on corneal transplants, but for every 70 people needing a transplant, only one cornea is available. It’s hoped that this treatment can directly edit a genetic mutation causing damage to the cornea.
If successful, it could stop or prevent deterioration of the cornea, creating a potential alternative to human corneal transplants.
“We’re delighted to be funding projects that seek to improve our understanding, diagnosis and treatment across such a diversity of eye conditions. As a national funder we’re also pleased to be supporting institutions across the UK, which we believe is vital for ensuring that talented researchers can contribute and develop their careers in ophthalmology and vision research.”
Testing medications for diabetic eye disease
Who: Dr Jose Hombrebueno
Where: University of Birmingham
Award: £249,992
Dr Hombrebueno is exploring whether existing medicines could treat diabetic eye conditions, including retinopathy and keratopathy.
Diabetic eye disease occurs for many reasons, one of which is damage to the mitochondria (the part of the cell that generates energy).
Dr Hombrebueno’s team is looking at new ways to identify this damage and investigating whether existing medications targeting the mitochondria could potentially treat diabetic eye conditions.
An artificial Intelligence tool to identify retinal disease
Who: Dr Anthony Robson
Where: Moorfields Eye Hospital
Award: £250,000
Dr Robson is looking at refining an Artificial Intelligence (AI) tool that may lead to earlier diagnosis of retinal disease – and, therefore, earlier treatment.
Now, diagnosing retinal disease is reliant on input from highly specialised clinicians. Dr Robson’s team have previously shown that AI could analyse results with similar accuracy as specialists, so they’re now working on developing this software to extract data from a vast amount of patient records.
The team hopes that this will enable a more efficient diagnosis of retinal diseases, which is important because early diagnosis can mean earlier treatment.
"To analyse more than 150,000 eye scans, fully automated tools were necessary. Doing that manually would take, probably not even years, it would take decades."
Advancing our understanding of choroideremia
Who: Professor Robert MacLaren
Where: University of Oxford
Award: £237,154
Professor MacLaren is seeking to find a way of establishing changes in the early stages of choroideremia.
Choroideremia is a condition that affects parts of the retina (the light-sensitive area at the back of the eye) and eventually leads to blindness.
With this grant, the team hopes to identify a measurement that may indicate that further degeneration has been prevented. If they find that this measurement works, it could be used in future clinical trials.
Listen to Professor MacLaren talk on our podcast about his previous work in choroideremia below.
Improving diagnosis of blindness in newborns
Who: Dr Anne Cees Houtman
Where: Greater Glasgow Health Board
Award: £249,780
Dr Houtman is investigating new ways of diagnosing a condition known as retinopathy of prematurity (ROP), the main cause of blindness in newborns.
ROP is caused by a disruption in the development of the retina (the light-sensitive area at the back of the eye) in premature babies.
Currently diagnosis involves a series of eye exams that are highly specialist and distressing for the babies, so Dr Houtman’s team is investigating a potential sign of ROP risk. If they find that it is a definitive sign this could lead to the development of a less invasive diagnostic test.
Previous awardee spotlight: Professor Steven Kaye
Professor Stephen Kaye received one of our Project Grants in 2022 for his work developing a treatment for microbial keratitis.
Microbial keratitis is a condition associated with wearing contact lenses and is a leading cause of blindness. Unfortunately, it often has poor outcomes, particularly for the 25% of those whose condition is caused by specific bacteria called Pseudomonas aeruginosa, which don’t respond well to current treatments.
Professor Kaye’s team set out to see if existing medications that prevent the activity of a toxin produced by these bacteria could reduce the damage without encountering drug-resistance.
The project is still ongoing, but so far, the team have had promising findings and are currently preparing for the first in human trials studying this treatment. This could be the first time we’ve had the ability to reduce the damage that occurs when a person develops an infection of the cornea due to the bacteria Pseudomonas aeruginosa.
Want to help us push vision research further?
We don't just invest in projects, we invest in people. Although the 2024/25 Project Grant round is closed for submissions, our research strategy fuels ground-breaking projects across all career stages. We also expect to launch a call for Project Grant applications each year in April. Find out more about applying for funding.
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