Inflammatory eye disease
Active research interests and expertise of the group are focussed on interrogating the mechanisms of immune-mediated inflammation and tissue damage which characterize inflammatory, neovascular and degenerative diseases of the eye.
Using animal models of ocular disease facilitates detailed understanding of the immune responses and dysregulated tissue responses which cause tissue damage, and this enhances understanding of analogous changes seen in the human eye.
The information from these studies informs the development of new treatments and the translation of therapeutic approaches designed to suppress dangerous immune responses and promote normal tissue homeostasis in the eye.
Projects
There are 8 main projects currently.
- Understanding recruitment and infiltration of immune cells during ocular disease.
- Characterization of ocular T cell populations.
- Plasticity of retinal microglia.
- Characterization of Adeno Associated Virus (AAV) mediated immune responses.
- Developing novel gene therapy approaches for disease.
- Regulatory pathways involved in oxidative stress-induced inflammation
- Co-morbidities in autoimmune disease.
- Enhanced imaging platforms.
Principal Investigators
Professor Andrew Dick, Professor of Ophthalmology (THS & CMM)
Dr Lindsay Nicholson, Reader in Research (CMM)
Dr Colin Chu, Honorary Clinical Senior Research Fellow (THS)
Collaborators
ORBIT consortium (Universities of Oxford, Bristol, Birmingham, Liverpool)
Dr Ying Kai-Chan, Harvard Business School, Boston, MA, USA
Professor Russ van Gelder & Dr Kathryn Pepple, University of Washington, Seattle, USA
Professor Alastair Denniston & Dr Lisa Hill, University of Birmingham, UK
Dr Gareth Jones, Cellular & Molecular Medicine, University of Bristol
Professor Alin Achim, Computational Imaging, University of Bristol
Dr Ali Bienemann & Dr Will Singleton, THS, University of Bristol
Dr Jesse Schallek, Flaum Eye Institute, University of Rochester
Current Funding
NIHR Biomedical Research Centre, Ophthalmology (Moorfields & UCL)
Sight Research UK (SRUK)
Fight for Sight
Above & Beyond
The Underwood Trust
The Macular Society
Wellcome Trust
Moorfields Eye Charity
University of Seattle
Janssen Pharmaceutica