Research into sight loss in children gets local funding
A Guernsey charitable trust has donated £135,000 towards cutting-edge research being carried out in Southampton into treatments for sight loss in children with albinism.
Children with the condition have poor sight and the vast majority are registered as blind or sight-impaired.
Treatment needs to be given before the age of eight, by which time the brain has ‘learned’ vision.
This is the focus of the work being carried out by Dr Jay Self and Dr Ellie Keeling, looking at how existing drugs can be used to treat the condition.
Dr Keeling said that while most people associate albinism with pale skin and hair, the impact on vision was significant too and it could not be treated at present.
‘We’ve created a way to replicate the mutations in albinism in the lab, so we can test different drugs to see if they can rescue vision,’ she said.
‘The work we have done to date is extremely promising and we’ve found some approved drugs that could influence how the eyes develop with albinism.
‘My post-doctoral research is helping move this research forward to a place where we could begin a clinical trial.’
She said she was grateful to the trust, which has remained anonymous, for its donation.
Anyone wanting more information about how to support medical research at the University of Southampton should contact Katherine De Retuerto on K.A.deRetuerto@soton.ac.uk.
