Moorfields and UCL staff share research discoveries with the world 

ARVO is the largest gathering of leading experts in eye and vision research. This year it’s taking place in Seattle, Washington, USA. 

This event allows health professionals and scientists to share their latest discoveries and innovations and to work together to tackle the major challenges facing ophthalmology today.

Moorfields Eye Hospital and UCL Institute of Ophthalmology staff have a major presence at the event this year with over 90 members of staff and researchers presenting their clinical findings and scientific research there.

This year the theme of ARVO is to address how vision research is being continually transformed by new information and technologies.

Here we share some of the major topics and research that the charity has supported.

The use of artificial intelligence (or AI) to transform approaches to ophthalmology is a major topic at the 2024 ARVO conference. 

Professor Pearse Keane is a professor of artificial medical intelligence at UCL and a consultant ophthalmologist at Moorfields Eye Hospital.

Professor Keane shares his research findings and describes what it will take to take AI from ​‘code to the clinic’. 

To date, Professor Keane’s charity-supported research has shown the real-world potential of AI to improve the diagnosis of eye conditions.

Exciting charity-funded research led by Dr Amanda Carr and Dr Ana Alonso-Carriazo Fernandez focuses on potential means of treating late-onset retinal degeneration (L-ORD). L-ORD is a genetically inherited degenerative disease that causes vision loss due to cell loss in the retina.

Ana shows that cells can be protected by using genetic tools which ​‘edit out’ the mutated gene. 

Future research will devise a technique to transport this genetic tool into the back of the eye.

People who experience vision loss are at greater risk of loneliness, social isolation, anxiety, depression, and worry. 

Mental illness can affect the ability of people to receive care, rehabilitate or participate in clinical trials.

Charlene Formento, lead nurse at Moorfields, found that including ongoing monitoring during research trials helped support participants’ mental health.

Dr Michael Crossland, optometrist at Moorfields reports that people with lower vision-related quality of life had poorer mental well-being. His study will inform the design of improved vision rehabilitation strategies.

Professor Anthony Khawaja, Professor of Ophthalmology and consultant surgeon at Moorfields, is interested in uncovering genetic links to glaucoma. High pressure inside the eye is a critical factor causing glaucoma.

He reports over 200 genetic changes related to increased internal eye pressure. These help us to understand why some people develop high internal eye pressure. 

This could be used to predict a person’s risk of developing glaucoma, enabling the early identification and treatment of people at risk.