News
2004 April: Burma: Mr Mohammed Muhtaseb, who is currently Advanced Sub-speciality Trainee on the Corneal Service at Moorfields, is taking freeze-dried corneal graft material from the eye bank on his visit to Burma.
2004 January: Freeze-drying research project: Mr Richard Imonikhe BSc is planning to undertake studies of techniques of freeze-drying with carbohydrate stabilizers. Substances such as trehalose are stabilizers of living tissues subject to desiccation e.g. brine shrimps, and he will be looking at methods of potentially enhancing the freeze-drying process of corneal tissue.
2003 December: Research Presentation: the results of the research work on corneal epithelium have been accepted for presentation at The American Society of Cell Biology Annual Meeting in San Francisco. More details....
2003 December: The Gambia: a joint visit has been made by Mr Andy Richards and Mr Chad Rostron to the Royal Victoria Teaching Hospital, Banjul. The focus of this visit has been to enhance the local corneal service by a training programme in the management of corneal disease, as well as surgical training in techniques of penetrating and lamellar grafting. More details....
2003 September: Eye Bank Staff: we are pleased to welcome Ms Deborah Ranby, who takes up the post of full-time eye bank technician from September. Debbie recently completed her BSc at Kingston University . She will be assisting Mr Stelios Myriknas who has recently been accepted on the graduate entry medical course at St George's Hospital Medical School .
2003 August: Research Students: three students, from the BSc course at Kingston University, undertook summer holiday work projects attachments.
Ms Raphaelle Ouvrard was awarded a Nuffield Foundation bursary to assist in this project.
Working under the direction of Colin McGuckin, Nico Forraz, Richard Morgan, and Chad Rostron, the students have undertaken a variety of studies of corneal epithelial cell culture using various substrates, as well as using molecular biological probes to characterise various corneal cell types.
2003 July: Visit by President of IAPB: we were pleased to receive a visit from Dr Hannah Faal, president of the International Agency for the Prevention of Blindness (IAPB). She was interested to see the workings of the laboratory, and hopes that we can continue our link with The Gambia in supplying corneal tissue for keratoplasty for some of the many needy patients in West Africa .
2003 January: Research appproval: a research project initiated by Mr Don Cameron-Swaby has been given Ethics Committee approval. Amniotic membrane will be retrieved and stored for use as a substrate to grow corneal epithelial stem cells. This research will potentially be of benefit to patients blind from corneal epithelial failure.