Title: NIHR Moorfields BRC
Funder: Department of Health and Social Care

Abstract: Moorfields Eye Hospital (MEH) and UCL Institute of Ophthalmology (IO) are the world s most productive hospital and university partnership for eye research. Our mission is to prevent and treat loss of vision, and to help the 2 million adults and children in the UK today who suffer from impaired sight. The aims of the NIHR Biomedical Research Centre proposal are: - Over the next 1-2 years we will transform the technologies that are used to detect eye diseases. We will look at the eye at the level of a single cell, measure eye pressure using a contact lens, and make complex equipment more widely available. We will also start to test a range of world s-first treatments, including new gene, cell, antibody therapies and devices for common, e,g, age-related macular degeneration, and rare diseases, e.g. inherited eye diseases. - Over the next 3-4 years we will improve eye assessments and develop new ways of measuring how the body s immune system affects the eye, so we can identify which patients will benefit from new treatments. We will repair damaged parts of the eye using a patient s own stem cells. The clinical and genetic information we are acquiring from large groups of patients with sight-threatening diseases will provide new insights into optimum therapies for the leading causes of sight loss. - More than 5 years from now our ambition is to have substantially advanced the benefit we bring to people with, or who are at risk of, sight loss. Through our collaborative networks, our insights will help people with non-ophthalmic disorders. All this will be greatly enhanced in 7-10 years when the MEH-IO partnership moves to a new integrated healthcare, research and education centre that is better suited to meet patients needs including faster cures. Throughout, we will continue to involve and engage patients in our research to ensure that more people maintain better vision for longer. Patients, the public and the NHS have told us just how important our work is: - 86% of people value their sight more than any other sense. - Losing vision is feared as much as having a stroke or getting cancer. - In the working age group, 66% of people with sight loss feel unable to fully participate in employment. - In older people, sight loss is a significant risk for falls, with around 37,000 serious falls per year linked to sight loss. - The annual healthcare cost of sight loss is &pound;2.64 billion. - 8.3% of outpatient activity in the NHS occurs because of eye-related problems. In support of our research we also propose to: - Invest in doctors and healthcare workers committed to finding better treatments. - Continue to listen to patients and those closest to them to ensure we research what they think is important and so we design studies in which they are willing to participate. - Make partnerships with charities supporting people with sight loss so that we share our research results as widely as possible.

Lay abstract: Moorfields Eye Hospital (MEH) and UCL Institute of Ophthalmology (IO) are the world s most productive hospital and university partnership for eye research. Our mission is to prevent and treat loss of vision, and to help the 2 million adults and children in the UK today who suffer from impaired sight. The aims of the NIHR Biomedical Research Centre proposal are: - Over the next 1-2 years we will transform the technologies that are used to detect eye diseases. We will look at the eye at the level of a single cell, measure eye pressure using a contact lens, and make complex equipment more widely available. We will also start to test a range of world s-first treatments, including new gene, cell, antibody therapies and devices for common, e,g, age-related macular degeneration, and rare diseases, e.g. inherited eye diseases. - Over the next 3-4 years we will improve eye assessments and develop new ways of measuring how the body s immune system affects the eye, so we can identify which patients will benefit from new treatments. We will repair damaged parts of the eye using a patient s own stem cells. The clinical and genetic information we are acquiring from large groups of patients with sight-threatening diseases will provide new insights into optimum therapies for the leading causes of sight loss. - More than 5 years from now our ambition is to have substantially advanced the benefit we bring to people with, or who are at risk of, sight loss. Through our collaborative networks, our insights will help people with non-ophthalmic disorders. All this will be greatly enhanced in 7-10 years when the MEH-IO partnership moves to a new integrated healthcare, research and education centre that is better suited to meet patients needs including faster cures. Throughout, we will continue to involve and engage patients in our research to ensure that more people maintain better vision for longer. Patients, the public and the NHS have told us just how important our work is: - 86% of people value their sight more than any other sense. - Losing vision is feared as much as having a stroke or getting cancer. - In the working age group, 66% of people with sight loss feel unable to fully participate in employment. - In older people, sight loss is a significant risk for falls, with around 37,000 serious falls per year linked to sight loss. - The annual healthcare cost of sight loss is &pound;2.64 billion. - 8.3% of outpatient activity in the NHS occurs because of eye-related problems. In support of our research we also propose to: - Invest in doctors and healthcare workers committed to finding better treatments. - Continue to listen to patients and those closest to them to ensure we research what they think is important and so we design studies in which they are willing to participate. - Make partnerships with charities supporting people with sight loss so that we share our research results as widely as possible.

Research activity codes: 4.5 RESOURCES AND INFRASTRUCTURE (DETECTION);5.9 RESOURCES AND INFRASTRUCTURE (TREATMENT DEVELOPMENT);6.9 RESOURCES AND INFRASTRUCTURE (TREATMENT EVALUATION)
Health categories: EYE