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05/04/2004
QUB sets sights on new research
Queen's University Belfast is set to carry out new research into a sight-threatening condition which can affect both people with diabetes and premature babies.
The three-year PhD studentship will be funded by a £60,000 grant from blindness research charity Fight for Sight.
The condition arises when the blood vessels in the retina grow uncontrollably as a side-effect of diabetes or of exposure to high levels of oxygen in premature infants. They can then bleed and stimulate the production of scar tissue which can, in turn, affect sight. The new research aims to prevent this happening.
Dr Denise McDonald, lecturer in Ophthalmology at Queen’s, said: “This is a fantastic opportunity for us. We’re very grateful to the charity for this grant which will allow us to carry out some very important research.”
Fight for Sight is currently funding ten PhD studentships across the UK and is expected to announce two more grants shortly.
Fight for Sight trustee Professor Desmond Archer said: “The projects we are currently funding centred on some of the most important causes of blindness in the UK. Fight for Sight is delighted to be able to fund this study.”
Fight for Sight is the UK's leading charity in the battle against blindness, funding first-class research into the prevention and treatment of eye disease and injury.
(MB)
The three-year PhD studentship will be funded by a £60,000 grant from blindness research charity Fight for Sight.
The condition arises when the blood vessels in the retina grow uncontrollably as a side-effect of diabetes or of exposure to high levels of oxygen in premature infants. They can then bleed and stimulate the production of scar tissue which can, in turn, affect sight. The new research aims to prevent this happening.
Dr Denise McDonald, lecturer in Ophthalmology at Queen’s, said: “This is a fantastic opportunity for us. We’re very grateful to the charity for this grant which will allow us to carry out some very important research.”
Fight for Sight is currently funding ten PhD studentships across the UK and is expected to announce two more grants shortly.
Fight for Sight trustee Professor Desmond Archer said: “The projects we are currently funding centred on some of the most important causes of blindness in the UK. Fight for Sight is delighted to be able to fund this study.”
Fight for Sight is the UK's leading charity in the battle against blindness, funding first-class research into the prevention and treatment of eye disease and injury.
(MB)
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