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NIHR researchers create A.I. tool to detect retinopathy of prematurity in new-born babies
A team of researchers led by NIHR investigator Dr Konstantinos Balaskas has published a study showing how artificial intelligence (A.I.) can be used to identify infants at risk of retinopathy of prematurity (ROP). This condition, which commonly arises following premature birth, can lead to permanent sight-loss if left untreated. The tool could help save sight in countries where access to specialist neonatal screening is limited.
28 April 2023
Moorfields ROAM project for research reaches huge numbers in under-served communities
Dr Roxanne Crosby-Nwaobi has successfully led a campaign to reach a huge number of people to raise awareness of research opportunities at Moorfields (ROAM) via radio.
27 April 2023
Prof. Patrick Yu-Wai-Man wins ARVO award for his research into gene replacement therapy for Leber hereditary optic neuropathy (LHON) [ARVO website]
The Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology (ARVO) have given their 2023 Ludwig von Sallmann Clinician-Scientist Award to NIHR researcher Prof. Yu-Wai-Man, in recognition of his ground-breaking work in the field of mitochondrial genetics and inherited eye diseases, which he will present at the upcoming ARVO Annual Meeting.
18 April 2023
NIHR Moorfields BRC researchers make up over 10% of The Ophthalmologist Power List 2023
Among the ranking of the 100 most important people in the world of ophthalmology, a total of 13 are associated with the NIHR Moorfields Biomedical Research Centre through our partner institutions, Moorfields Eye Hospital NHS Foundation Trust and UCL Institute of Ophthalmology.
14 April 2023
Moorfields at Brent Cross transforms glaucoma diagnosis and saves sight
For Glaucoma Week 2023 , we visited Moorfields at Brent Cross Shopping Centre to find out how the new hub is transforming routine diagnostics, tackling the Covid backlog and ensuring patients receive sight-saving treatment as quickly and conveniently as possible.
13 March 2023
NIHR Moorfields BRC researchers appointed as Senior Investigators
Professors Pearse Keane and Alastair Denniston have been newly appointed to the prestigious role of NIHR Senior Investigator, while Professor Jugnoo Rahi has been re-appointed for a second four-year term.
1 March 2023
£300 million contract signed with Bouygues UK to build Oriel, a new centre for eye care, research and education – and our new home [Moorfields website]
Oriel is a joint initiative between Moorfields Eye Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, the UCL Institute of Ophthalmology and Moorfields Eye Charity that will see us move to a brand-new integrated centre on part of the St Pancras Hospital site in Camden.
23 February 2023
Cross Innovation Hub launches with successful matching event at UCL Institute of Ophthalmology
The first meeting of our new Cross Innovation Hub took place recently with an event designed to bring clinicians and researchers together to foster new partnerships in vision research. Around 35 people attended, hearing about the collaborative success of The London Project and taking part in 'speed matching' and networking sessions.
13 December 2022
Charles Bonnet Syndrome event at Parliament celebrates advances in knowledge and research
On 16 November – Charles Bonnet Syndrome Awareness Day – an event took place at the Palace of Westminster focusing on the condition, supported by the NIHR Moorfields BRC. The evening was hosted by Rupa Huq MP and organised by the charity Esme’s Umbrella, which provides information about Charles Bonnet Syndrome and encourages research into the condition.
24 November 2022
NIHR Moorfields BRC receives £20 million for another five years of vision research innovation
We are delighted to announce that the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) Biomedical Research Centre at Moorfields Eye Hospital NHS Foundation Trust and UCL Institute of Ophthalmology has been awarded £20 million funding for a new five-year period starting from December 2022.
14 October 2022
NIHR Moorfields BRC team looks back at successful Bloomsbury Festival 2022
Bloomsbury Festival is an annual celebration of culture, arts, science, literature and debate in London's knowledge quarter. For our third year of involvement with the Festival, we focus on two themes: techniques for coping with Charles Bonnet Syndrome and the links between air pollution and eye health.
20 to 22 October 2022
Reusable contact lenses more than triple the risk of rare preventable eye infection [UCL News site]
A study funded by NIHR Moorfields BRC has shown that people who wear reusable contact lenses are nearly four times as likely as those wearing daily disposables to develop a rare sight-threatening eye infection.
23 September 2022
Gene therapy trial for completely colour-blind children partly restores cone function
Gene therapy has partly restored the function of the retina’s cone receptors in two children who were born completely colour-blind, reports a new study led by UCL researchers. [UCL News site]
24 August 2022
New tool allows researchers to analyse retinal photographs automatically
A recently published paper describes a new computer programme called ‘Automorph’, which analyses photographs of the back of the eye. It allows researchers to process these images much more quickly and efficiently, and could lead to faster ways of diagnosing many diseases that cause changes in the eye, including conditions affecting the whole body.
5 September 2022
We are delighted to report that Prof. Patrick Yu Wai Man was recently appointed Chair of Ophthalmology at the University of Cambridge, having been funded by the NIHR Moorfields BRC since his appointment at Moorfields Eye Hospital in 2014.
4 July 2022
Oriel planning consent granted
The Oriel project has taken another important step forward with the granting of planning permission for the new hospital, research and education building on St Pancras Way in the London Borough of Camden. The building will also provide a new home for the NIHR Moorfields Biomedical Research Centre.
15 August 2022
Members of the public participate in project to analyse images of Uveitis in children
Members of the public are being asked to examine and evaluate high-resolution images of the potentially blinding eye condition, uveitis, as part of a UCL-led project aimed at ensuring children with the disease are diagnosed and treated far more quickly.
24 May 2022
Keratoconus risk calculator developed by team at Moorfields and UCL Institute of Ophthalmology
A new tool for showing the risk factors in developing keratoconus to clinicians and to aid discussions with patients has been designed by a team at Moorfields and UCL Institute of Ophthalmology.
23 May 2022
UCL leads the UK in health research according to the REF 2021
The Research Excellence Framework (REF) 2021 has recognised UCL as the top university in the UK for the quality and impact of its research in medicine, health and life sciences. The success – with major contributions from the Faculty of Brain Sciences, including the Institute of Ophthalmology (IoO). The NIHR Moorfields BRC has played an important role in this achievement through its support of life-changing research at the IoO.
Moorfields NIHR researchers feature on The Ophthalmologist Power List 2022
The Ophthalmologist Power List 2022 has been published, naming seven NIHR Moorfields BRC researchers among the hundred most influential people working in ophthalmology today.
8 April 2022
NIHR appoints Professor Sobha Sivaprasad as Senior Investigator
The NIHR has appointed Professor Sobha Sivaprasad, NIHR Moorfields Biomedical Research Centre clinician researcher, as one of 30 new NIHR Senior Investigators.
4 March 2022
New five-year funding award announced for NIHR Moorfields Clinical Research Facility (CRF)
The NIHR Moorfields CRF has received a new five-year funding term to facilitate novel therapies and technologies to preserve sight.
28 February 2022
Rare Disease Day 2022
The NIHR Moorfields Biomedical Research Centre marks Rare Disease Day on 28 February 2022 by highlighting two projects related to rare eye diseases: the Eye2Gene research project and the gene.vision website. Read more
28 February 2022
The results of the LiGHT Study, an NIHR-funded trial comparing different treatment options for glaucoma and ocular hypertension, have led to an update to the national guidelines for NHS care in England. In a major shift, SLT (selective laser trabeculoplasty) is now recommended as the primary option to lower internal eye pressure, replacing eye drops as the standard treatment.
24 February 2022
A team led by Professor Ted Garway-Heath at UCL Institute of Ophthalmology and Moorfields Eye Hospital has been awarded a major grant for a major four-year clinical trial to test the effectiveness of nicotinamide, a form of vitamin B3, as a treatment for glaucoma.
22 February 2022
The Economist speaks to NIHR-supported researcher Dr Pearse Keane for video on A.I. in healthcare
The Economist has made a short film about the use of artificial intelligence (A.I.) in healthcare entitled ‘How A.I. can make health care better’. It explores how A.I. is transforming the way patients are diagnosed and treated, and is making it easier and cheaper to test new medical procedures.
16 February 2022
Moorfields patient receives bionic chip implant in blind eye
A patient at Moorfields Eye Hospital has been able to detect electronically generated visual signals with her blind left eye, thanks to a successfully implanted microchip. She is the first UK patient to receive this new device as part of the PRIMAvera study, a Europe-wide clinical trial for the new technology.
21 January 2022
Moorfields Eye Hospital NHS Foundation Trust and UCL have opened a pop-up diagnostic hub at Brent Cross in North London. The new space, previously a shop, enables some people to be seen closer to their homes, providing a convenient way for them to access diagnostic eye care.
2021 – a year of triumphs, challenges and change at Moorfields BRC
As the year draws to a close, the team at the NIHR Moorfields Biomedical Research Centre reflect back on a year of extraordinary research, a return to in-person events, and a new BRC manager.
Moorfields patient receives the world's first 3D printed eye
A Moorfields Eye Hospital Patient will be the first person in the world to be supplied with a fully digitally created 3D printed eye. He first tried the eye in early November alongside a traditionally made acrylic prosthetic. Now he goes home as the first person with this digitally scanned and printed prosthetic.
25 November 2021
Keratoconus patient day 2021
The NIHR Moorfields BRC hosted an event for patients participating in the Keralink trial and their parents, Keratoconous patients, relatives, friends and healthcare professionals.
Date: 27 November 2021
Artificial Intelligence breakthrough in the diagnosis of geographic atrophy at Moorfields & UCL
A team led by Dr Konstantinos Balaskas at Moorfields Eye Hospital Ophthalmic Reading Centre and Clinical AI hub has developed a fully automated, deep-learning model that can detect and quantify geographic atrophy using standard eye scans.
ALICE the Robot Visits Bloomsbury
The INSIGHT PPIE team took part in the Bloomsbury Festival 2021. The festival took place across a week and is focussed on science and art, two of our favourite subjects. The theme this year was Shining Light and we thought we would shine a light on the subject of machine learning and the use of data in healthcare and research.
European Ainiridia Conference 2021
Hosted in London, the conference was managed and delivered by a team of highly distinguished experts from Moorfields Eye Hospital, UCL Institute of Ophthalmology and NIHR Moorfields Biomedical Research Centre.
6 August 2021
NIHR and Moorfields Eye Charity launch first joint Advanced Fellowship
Together with our partners at Moorfields Eye Charity, we are delighted to announce that Dr Patrick Yu Wai Man has been awarded our first Advanced Fellowship for his work to evaluate patient outcomes and therapies for inherited diseases affecting the optic nerve.
Gene Vision Chat Bot launch
Gene Vision site launches new Chat Bot and we have created a film to explain it.
30 June 2021
Insights into INSIGHT podcast - Series 2
The second series looked beyond the use of data and AI in eye research, swinging the lens back on ourselves to explore the world as we think we know it.
15 July 2021
BRC ARVO 2021 Travel award recipients
The NIHR BRC at Moorfields and UCL Institute of Ophthalmology is pleased to announce the winners of this years ARVO travel award.
Partial recovery of visual function in a blind patient after optogenetic therapy
Partial recovery of visual function in a blind patient after optogenetic therapy using light sensing proteins, first found in algae.
This is the first reported case of partial functional recovery in a neurodegenerative disease after optogenetic therapy.
BBC Two documentary 'DNA Family Secrets' features genetic testing at Moorfields
The episode (first airing Tuesday 16 March 2021) features a young Moorfields patient and his family as they discover whether gene therapy could help him with his sight loss. The programme follows the family as they undergo genetic testing in Professor Mariya Moosajee’s clinic at Moorfields City Road, and his subsequent treatment at Great Ormond Street Hospital.
NIHR Moorfields BRC study links low to moderate alcohol consumption with lower risk of cataract surgery
A new observational study has found that low to moderate alcohol consumption, especially of wine, is associated with a lower risk of requiring surgery for cataracts. However, the nature of the study means it does not prove a direct causal effect between alcohol and a reduced risk of cataracts.
NIHR funds first UK-wide population study of all forms of childhood visual impairment
A new epidemiological study carried out with NIHR support provides detailed information on the prevalence of different visual impairments, as well as associated conditions and environmental factors. The findings are vital for assessing the visual health of the population and planning effective health services.
NIHR researchers contribute to major new Lancet Commission on Global Eye Health
A newly published report in The Lancet Global Health journal sets out the huge unmet need for eye care around the world, which by 2050 will see 1.8 billion people living with untreated vision impairment. By tackling the barriers to treatments in low- and middle-income countries using existing, cost-effective interventions, the report estimates the boost to global economic output would be almost £300 billion a year – as well improving quality of life for millions of people.
Celebrating International Day of Women and Girls in Science 2021
Our colleagues and partners at UCL Faculty of Brain Sciences and Women in Vision UK spoke to two women who work under the Moorfields BRC banner, as part of celebrations marking this annual UN inititative to promote the incredible work of women in science.
A new study showing the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on Charles Bonnet Syndrome symptoms coincides with a Coronation Street storyline featuring the often frightening condition. In the soap Johnny, an established character, develops scary, silent hallucinations. The UCL study highlights the isolation of the condition.
As remote consultations surge, home eye tests prove effective
Researchers from NIHR Moorfields BRC, Moorfields Eye Hospital, UCL Institute of Ophthalmology, working with colleagues at UCL, Essex and Cambridge universities wanted to find out if a simple, paper-based eye test could be used by eye patients at home...
Age-related macular degeneration (AMD) linked with air pollution
New research led by Prof. Paul Foster and the UK Biobank Eye and Vision Consortium shows an increased risk of age-related macular degeneration linked to air pollution. The study was published in the British Journal of Ophthalmology.
Charles Bonnet Syndrome Patient Information Event
Over 500 people attended the online patient information event on 16th November, marking Charles Bonnet Syndrome awareness day and 5 years since the launch of Esme's Umbrella.
The Gene Vision website has been created by researchers, clinicians and patient charities to provide a trustworthy open-access resource for information on Rare Genetic Eye disease.
