Infrastructure

The NIHR CRF: Moorfields at Moorfields Eye Hospital is one of 28 CRFs across England funded by the NIHR. Their aim is to expand early-phase clinical research delivery in NHS hospitals.

• Find out more about the CRF

The NIHR BioResource Centre: Moorfields is dedicated to patients with rare inherited eye conditions and common blinding diseases. Their work has led to breakthroughs such as gene-replacement, targeted therapeutics, and cellular therapies. Collaborating with other centres, they collect extensive clinical data from thousands of patients to study genome-visual health interactions. 

• Find out more about the BioResource

Part of the world-renowned UCL Institute of Ophthalmology, this centre supports extensive molecular biology facilities for translational projects, including cellular and gene therapies. The building also houses dedicated laboratory facilities to support NIHR Moorfields CRF activities.

The unit is licensed by the UK Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency as a GMP (Good Manufacturing Practice) facility. It is available to both internal and external researchers for the manufacture of ‘Advanced Therapy Medicinal Products’ for academic or commercial use. The unit is housed in a state-of-the-art suite at Moorfields Eye Hospital.

Find out more about the unit (UCL website)

At 4,575 square feet, the floor dedicated to clinical research at the Richard Desmond Children’s Eye Centre is the world’s largest such facility for children. It allows Moorfields Clinical Research Facility to lead international trials in children’s eye disease, including an eye tracker for childhood nystagmus and paediatric gene therapy studies.

The Garfield Weston Functional Assessment Unit is the largest dedicated functional vision assessment centre in the world. It consists of ten self-contained and customisable rooms for:

1. Visual psychophysics and computational modelling for spatial vision research.

2. Testing in inherited retinal studies using the colour ‘Metropsis’ system.

3. Visual rehabilitation in a suite designed for retinal microchip studies.

The Moorfields Eye Hospital Ophthalmic Reading Centre and Clinical A.I. Lab offers its services for ophthalmic clinical trials globally.

The 538 square foot state-of-art image grading centre is integrated with the new Moorfields Department of Digital Medicine. The centre develops and validates digital analytical tools, including automated segmentation and clinical decision support tools. These enable Moorfields CRF to enhance patient recruitment and deliver efficient early-phase trials.

• Find out more on the Reading Centre website

This 377 square foot facility is used to measure a patient’s ability to navigate through a maze under different lighting conditions. It provides a mobility endpoint (approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration) for our portfolio of gene therapy trails for inherited retinal diseases.

Oriel is a joint partnership between Moorfields Eye Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, the UCL Institute of Ophthalmology (IoO) and Moorfields Eye Charity, with support from the NIHR. It will see the main Moorfields site (City Road) and UCL IoO move from their current location near Old Street, Islington, to a new, integrated building on part of the St Pancras Hospital site in Camden.

Completion of this world-leading centre for advancing eye health is due in 2027, when it will also provide a new home for the NIHR BRC: Moorfields.