News & Events
26 September 2013
Professor Usha Chakravarthy of the Centre for Vision and Vascular Science is giving a talk at EURETINA 2013 in Hamburg, Germany on Friday 27 September 2013. Prof Chakravarthy’s talk, “Characteristics of radiation induced microangiopathy in the treatment of wet AMD” is one of several given by key members of the INTREPID group as the two-year results of their study of Oraya Therapy™ Stereotactic Radiotherapy are announced. The results show continued evidence of the therapy’s ability to reduce the frequency of VEGF injections into the eye for suitable patients, lowering the cost of treatment of Wet AMD.
Read the full press release from Oraya Therapeutics here.
20 September 2013
NEW YORK (Reuters Heath) - Older Americans with macular degeneration tend not to travel as far from home as others with normal vision, according to a new study. "It is very interesting that movement tracking revealed these differences as a questionnaire-based study would probably not have found them," said Usha Chakravarthy of The Institute for Ophthalmology and Vision Science at The Queen's University of Belfast in Northern Ireland, who was not involved in the study. "Having AMD probably dents the confidence even more than glaucomatous field loss," she told Reuters Health.
View the full article at Reuters Health.
19 September 2013
The September 2013 issue of the School of Medicine, Dentistry and Biomedical Sciences' newsletter, MDBS News is now available from the School website. Hard copies are also available from the School Office.
This edition includes features on Professors Augusto Azuara-Blanco and Noemi Lois, Professor Usha Chakravarty and Professor Alan Stitt.
11 September 2013
Following an internal trawl the Centre for Vision & Vascular Science is delighted to congratulate and welcome Professor Augusto Azuara-Blanco to the position of CVVS Associate Director of Undergraduate Education. Augusto took up the post on Monday 29 July 2013.
Professor Alan Stitt, Director of CVVS thanked former ADUE, Dr David Grieve, for his substantial support and major contributions during the past year-and-a-half.
CVVS Summer Students 2013
26/08/2013
This year, 14 undergraduate students participated in the CVVS Summer Studentship programme. Following a highly competitive process and a record number of applications (93), 13 students were selected. The successful students were drawn from Years 1 & 2 Queen’s Medicine, Biomedical Science and Human Biology students, with one external candidate from the Molecular Medicine course in Trinity College Dublin who won a Wellcome Trust Vacation Scholarship.
All 14 students carried out an 8-week project across each of our key research themes including ophthalmology, diabetic complications and cardiovascular disease. Feedback from both students and supervisors was excellent, and everyone seemed to enjoy their time in the labs or clinical trial unit.
Ms Shauna Wood (Year 2 Medicine) said “I really enjoyed the responsibility of planning, conducting and presenting a research project in CVVS, which I found to be both challenging and rewarding. My time at the CVVS has been an invaluable experience to meet fellow students and explore medical academia first-hand - I would highly recommend it!”
As part of the research programme, several students “scrubbed up” to observe cataract surgery performed by Professor Noemi Lois, Clinical Professor in Ophthalmology. The students also attended a Cell Therapy Symposium in Riddle Hall on June 25, and they had the opportunity to present their own data at a CVVS mini-symposium on August 1st. The standard of the presentations was first-rate and many of the supervisors and the Deputy Head of School, Professor Graham McGeown, attended the session.
We would like to thank all our summer students for their enthusiasm and willingness to participate in this programme. We wish them well in the upcoming semester and look forward to hearing about their future research careers!
20/07/2013
An anti-cancer drug is as effective in treating a common cause of blindness as a more expensive specialist drug, according to a trial led by a Queen's University scientist.The two-year study examined the performance of Lucentis and Avastin in treating wet age-related macular degeneration (wet AMD). It found that the two treatments were equally effective. Anti-cancer drug Avastin costs £60 per injection, eye drug Lucentis £700.
Please click here to watch the QTV video news clip.
24 June 2013
Following an internal trawl the Centre for Vision & Vascular Science is delighted to congratulate and welcome Dr David Grieve to the position of Associate Director of Postgraduate Education & Training (PGE&T). David has taken over from Dr Tim Curtis with effect from Monday 24 June 2013.
Dr Tim Curtis stepped down from his role as the CVVS Associate Director for PGE&T in May 2013.
Professor Alan Stitt, Director of CVVS would like to take this opportunity to thank Tim for his substantial support and major contributions in the development of PGE&T in both the Centre and the School over the years.
16-21 June 2013
Dr Andriana Margariti (pictured with other AGRC delegates) Lecturer in CVVS was an invited speaker at this year’s Atherosclerosis Gordon Research Conference, Stowe Vermont, USA. Her talk, entitled "Therapeutic potential of epigenetic rejuvenated vascular cells in cardiovascular disease" was presented at the Epigenetics and Atherosclerosis Session.
14 June 2013
Samuel Lockhart, a third year QUB medical student, who conducted his intercalated research project in CVVS has been awarded a prestigious summer student internship by the Joslin Diabetes Center in Boston, the largest of its kind in the world. This programme is highly competitive with only 12 funded positions awarded annually. Samuel will conduct a research project to study the contribution of endothelial cell insulin resistance to the progression of colorectal cancer under the primary supervision of Dr Christian Rask-Madsen, Research Associate and Dr George King, Director of Research and Head of the Vascular Cell Biology. Samuel will spend 12 weeks in the US during which time he will gain invaluable experience of working in a world-leading research environment with international leaders, which will greatly benefit his aspirations to a career in academic medicine. The studentship has been kindly supplemented by the School Scholarships Committee.
L-R: Professor Alan Stitt, Professor Vivien Coates & Mr Jim Wells MLA
10 June 2013
Professor Alan Stitt and Dr Derek Brazil joined other Diabetes UK-funded researchers from Queen’s and the University of Ulster to give short presentations on their respective “Diabetes UK” research projects. The event was hosted by the All-Party Group on Diabetes in the Long Gallery, Parliament Buildings, Stormont on Monday 10 June 2013.
L-R: Dr Derek Brazil, CVVS, QUB, Dr Geraldine Horigan, Research Associate, UU, Professor Vivien Coates, Professor of Nursing Research, UU & Professor Alan Stitt, CVVS, QUB
01 May 2013
A coffee morning was held on Wednesday 01May 2013 to raise money for Diabetes UK. The hot beverages, cups and some muffins were kindly donated by Spoons, the cafeteria in the main building of Royal Victoria Hospital. There was a further selection of pastries, buns and cakes kindly made by various staff and students of CVVS.
There was also a raffle and the prizes for the raffle were donated by Superdrug, Boots and Dunnes in the Park Centre, Wine kindly donated by Miss Elaine Latimer and Miss Olivia O’Leary and t-shirts and key rings by Diabetes UK.
The event saw a decent attendance from CVVS, CPH and a few medical students and was largely successful.
The event raised £355, the proceeds of which were donated to Diabetes UK.
19 April 2013
We are delighted to congratulate Professor Emeritus Desmond Archer, who was presented the 2013 Distinguished Graduate Award at this year’s Celebration of Excellence Awards, in recognition of his major contribution to Ophthalmology at Queen’s and within the UK and beyond.
Bravo also, to all the CVVS nominees, and very well done to Dr Michelle Hookham who won the “Best Postdoctoral Fellow” category for her role in the SMDBS Postdoctoral Community and establishment of the Postdoctoral Society Working Group, and Dr Micheal Ward who received the “Best Postgraduate Student” (Graduated Winter 2012) for his project "Role of the receptor for advanced glycation endproducts (RAGE) in diabetic retinopathy".
11 April 2013
Nathan Cantley, a Year 3 student in medicine at Queen’s won the poster prize for Cardiology at the recent National Student Association of Medical Research (NSAMR) in The Royal Infirmary Edinburgh with his poster entitled ‘Hypoxia-induced changes in vascular stem cell gene expression: bioinformatic analysis of microRNA targeting.’
At the conference guest speakers included Professor John Iredale from Edinburgh and Professor Sir John Savill of the Medical Research Council with presentations on opportunities in academic medicine and more information about the academic training pathways available throughout the UK. Over 70 Poster presentations and several oral presentations were also given by medical students from around the country. Nathan said “I really enjoyed the conference and I am really grateful to Dr Brazil and his team for the opportunity to work in his lab at CVVS for the summer studentships. I would encourage any other medical student interested in research to take advantage of the opportunities that exist to conduct research in your undergraduate career”.
NSAMR is a collection of the Academic Medicine Societies in universities from around the UK. Queen's University Belfast has recently set up one of its own through the Queen's University Belfast Academic Medicine Society (QUAMS); more information is available here.
25 March 2013
On Monday 25 March 2013 Professor Eric Olson from UT South Western in Dallas gave the 2013 Barcroft Lecture here at QUB. Professor Olson is currently the Annie and Willie Nelson Professor of Stem Cell Research and is a world-leading expert in heart development, with over 500 papers published, generating > 50,000 citations.
Professor Olson met with several members of CVVS academic staff, and also met with CVVS students and postdocs during an informal lunch. He then gave a stimulating lecture entitled “Following the Heart” to a packed auditorium detailing his work on new strategies to regenerate heart muscle after myocardial infarction.
Professor Graham McGeown in his closing remarks said that is was a great privilege for the School of Medicine, Dentistry and Biomedical Sciences to have hosted Professor Olson and we look forward to reading about future seminal discoveries from his group in the future.
22-25 February 2013
Professor John Forrester, Distinguished Scholar at Queen’s University Belfast, visited the Centre for Vision and Vascular Science (CVVS) from 22nd - 25th February 2013. During his visit, Professor Forrester exchanged opinions and ideas on various issues relating to ophthalmic research and education with the Director of CVVS, Professor Alan Stitt, and Emeritus Professor Desmond Archer (OBE). He also met with other CVVS academic staff including Dr Tim Curtis, Associate Director of Postgraduate Education and Dr Heping Xu, Head of Division of Clinical and Experimental Ophthalmology. On 23rd February, Professor Forrestor held a workshop with members of the Ocular Immunology Group lead by Dr Heping Xu and Dr Mei Chen, and provided valuable advice on various ongoing research projects within the group.
Professor Forrester is a world-renowned ocular immunologist and a Consultant Ophthalmologist. He was the Cockburn Professor and the Chair of the Department of Ophthalmology at the University of Aberdeen until September 2011, and is now an Emeritus Professor of University of Aberdeen and Professor of Ocular Immunology, University of Western Australia. Professor Forrester received the Distinguished Scholar Award from Queen’s University Belfast in 2012 and paid his first visit to CVVS in September 2012. His research interests include ocular inflammation, angiogenesis, transplantation, wound healing and imaging in ophthalmology. Professor Forrester has published over 350 peer-reviewed papers with over 20,000 citations.
14 February 2013
Scientists at Queen’s University Belfast are hoping to develop a novel approach that could save the sight of millions of diabetes sufferers using adult stem cells.
Currently millions of diabetics worldwide are at risk of sight loss due to a condition called Diabetic Retinopathy. This is when high blood sugar causes the blood vessels in the eye to become blocked or to leak. Failed blood flow harms the retina and leads to vision impairment and if left untreated can lead to blindness.
The novel REDDSTAR study (Repair of Diabetic Damage by Stromal Cell Administration) involving researchers from Queen’s Centre for Vision and Vascular Science in the School of Medicine, Dentistry and Biomedical Sciences, will see them isolating stem cells from donors, expanding them in a laboratory setting and re-delivering them to a patient where they help to repair the blood vessels in the eye. This is especially relevant to patients with diabetes were the vessels of the retina become damaged.
At present there are very few treatments available to control the progression of diabetic complications. There are no treatments which will improve glucose levels and simultaneously treat the diabetic complication.
The €6 million EU funded research is being carried out with NUI Galway and brings together experts from Northern Ireland, Ireland, Germany, the Netherlands, Denmark, Portugal and the US.
Professor Alan Stitt, Director of the Centre for Vision and Vascular Science in Queen’s and lead scientist for the project said: “The Queen’s component of the REDDSTAR study involves investigating the potential of a unique stem cell population to promote repair of damaged blood vessels in the retina during diabetes. The impact could be profound for patients, because regeneration of damaged retina could prevent progression of diabetic retinopathy and reduce the risk of vision loss.
“Currently available treatments for diabetic retinopathy are not always satisfactory. They focus on end-stages of the disease, carry many side effects and fail to address the root causes of the condition. A novel, alternative therapeutic approach is to harness adult stem cells to promote regeneration of the damaged retinal blood vessels and thereby prevent and/or reverse retinopathy.”
“This new research project is one of several regenerative medicine approaches ongoing in the centre. The approach is quite simple: we plan to isolate a very defined population of stem cells and then deliver them to sites in the body that have been damaged by diabetes. In the case of some patients with diabetes, they may gain enormous benefit from stem cell-mediated repair of damaged blood vessels in their retina. This is the first step towards an exciting new therapy in an area where it is desperately needed.”
The research focuses on specific adult stem-cells derived from bone-marrow. Which are being provided by Orbsen Therapeutics, a spin-out from the Science Foundation Ireland-funded Regenerative Medicine Institute (REMEDI) at NUI Galway.
The project will develop ways to grow the bone-marrow-derived stem cells. They will be tested in several preclinical models of diabetic complications at centres in Belfast, Galway, Munich, Berlin and Porto before human trials take place in Denmark.
Queen’s Centre for Vision and Vascular Science is a key focus of the University’s ambitious £140m ‘together we can go Beyond’ fundraising campaign. It is due to expand its Vision Sciences programme further when the University’s new £32m Wellcome-Wolfson Centre for Experimental Medicine opens in 2015. Along with vision, two new programmes in Diabetes and Genomics will also be established in the new Centre which is set to stimulate additional investment, lead to further global collaborations and create more opportunities for new health and biotech companies in Northern Ireland.
30 January 2013
Professor Usha Chakravarthy was one of four leading medical researchers who took part recently in an evening of “Local Talent, Global Impact” talks at Riddel Hall, Queen’s University. The event, Chaired by Professor Patrick Johnston, was extremely well attended and provided an opportunity for the public to hear about, and engage with clinical researchers who are leading innovative research programmes at Queen’s.
07 January 2013
Fight for Sight-funded clinical researcher, Dr Colin Willoughby (CVVS, QUB), along with colleagues from Australia, USA, Singapore and UK, have published new research looking at potential genetic markers that are associated with keratoconus, a common corneal disorder.
This research paper was published online in Nature Genetics.
The team have been working to identify molecular targets for this condition which has a strong genetic basis. The project identified key risk factors which will allow researchers to develop treatments based on therapeutic targets to prevent the disease from developing or progressing. The study also found links between genetic variants controlling corneal thickness and glaucoma risk.
Keratoconus is the leading reason for corneal transplantation in the developed world – currently the only possible treatment - with one-fifth of patients eventually requiring a transplant. It accounts for a quarter of the 2,500 corneal transplants performed in the UK each year.
The sight of patients with keratoconus degenerates as they suffer increasing myopia and irregular astigmatism as the cornea progressively thins and bows forward. Without transparency and refraction in the cornea, it is impossible to have normal vision.
Usually striking during the teenage years and affecting approximately one in 2,000 people, keratoconus is a significant health burden for work-age adults.
Dr Dolores Conroy, Director of Research for Fight for Sight said: “Despite the visual and social impact of keratoconus, the underlying biochemical processes and pathobiology remain poorly understood. The new findings used genome wide association analyses on central corneal thickness from over 20,000 people and identified a number of genes. As a thin cornea is seen in keratoconus these genetic markers were assessed in patients from Northern Ireland and Australia and a number of genetic factors were found to be associated with the development of keratoconus but these need further study. Corneal transplantation, although effective, carries inherent risk so research into alternative treatments for keratoconus is welcomed.