Category: Archive

Genetic research into KC

Some of you will remember that the KC Group donated 4K to the Moorfields team, headed by Mr Stephen Tuft, researching the genetics of KC to enable them to do some additional analysis of the data. You may also have read the summary of the talk given by Professor Alison Hardcastle at our AGM earlier this year in our latest newsletter. Her talk gave an outline of the results of that analysis. A scientific paper giving detailed results has now been published.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/31246245

In sending us the above link, Stephen Tuft wrote “The results of the work have given us some clues as to the genetic causes of keratoconus. In addition, this work will complement a very large study into the genetic basis of keratoconus that we hope to submit for publication in the next few weeks. The Keratoconus Group has helped us recruit for this study, and we are grateful for that.”

He also asked us to thank our members and tell them that their support at an early stage of this work helped move the research forward at an important time.
Quite a few of our members took part in the very large study that Mr Tuft mentions, so we will obviously let you know as soon as we have details of that publication.

 
by Anne Klepacz » Fri Aug 09, 2019

AGM Report

Our well attended, AGM was held on 23rd March 2019.

Three new committee members were appointed namely, Batcho Notay, Caroline Condillac and Jacqui Thomas.  Moira O’Brien resigned for health reasons.  The meeting paid tribute to Moira who has been a supporter of the KC group since its inception.  Click here to see a full list of officials.

The Chairmans report is available here

The meeting was followed by a fascinating talk by Alison Hardcastle, Professor of Molecular Genetics at the Institute of Ophthalmology Faculty of Brain Sciences, who spoke about the Moorfields genetic study.

To read the research summary published by UCL INSTITUTE OF OPHTHALMOLOGY- click here

 

Brighton Branch Meeting

Brighton Keratoconus Support Group

Our next meeting will take place on:
Saturday 9th November 2019 at 11am

at the
Sussex Eye Hospital
Eastern Road
Brighton  BN2 5BF
(in the Dr’s Mess which is on the Ground Floor and immediately opposite the main entrance to the Eye Hospital)


The meeting will be hosted by
Mr Mayank Nanavaty MBBS, DO, FRCOphth
Consultant Ophthalmic Surgeon

For further details please ring David Gable on 020 8554 5578

Car Parking – It has been suggested that it is cheaper to park free at the Marina and get the No. 7 bus to the hospital (5 minutes)

Hospital Site Map(1)

Fight for Sight / Keratoconus Group Small Grant Award

We are pleased to announce that we have entered in to an agreement with Fight for Sight to support an award up to the value of £15,000 to fund research into the condition Keratoconus.

The Award will be funded as to 50% by Keratoconus Group and 50% by Fight for Sight.

Latest Update

We can now announce that the funding has been awarded to a team led by Dr Mouhamed Al-Aqaba at Nottingham University .  The project is titled – “The involvement of corneal nerves in the pathogenesis and progression of keratoconus”.  The research team has already identified that corneal nerves are dramatically altered in KC and will now be looking at whether these changes have a relation to the severity and progression of KC and identifying the types of nerves involved. This promises to increase the understanding of the condition, and may eventually lead to new interventions.

This is an exciting adventure made possible by the generous sponsorship of Barbican Insurance.

For full details are on the the Fight for Sight website – Here

Concert in aid of KC research


What a wonderful evening.  An intimate setting with a glass of wine.  Perfect lighting bringing her sisters paintings to life.
Australian viola player  Michelle Urquhart and her friend Marco van Pagee gave a delightful solo viola and viola duet recital.
Michelle is the NSW representative for Keratoconus Australia and all proceeds from tickets/donations will come to the KC Group to be used for research into KC to benefit those with KC worldwide.
It is worth quoting this from the programme:
“It was whilst studying music at the Sydney Conservatorium that Michelle’s eyesight started to fail.  She underwent her first corneal graft.  It failed, and for four and a half years she was legally blind.  Following serious eye infections and rejection she underwent an emergency graft.
Sight restored, Michelle threw herself back into her music.  ‘Having my sight taken away and then having a second chance at music with my successful transplants has been a miracle and the great gift of my life.  I want to make the most of every moment and share my music with the world, and support others with Keratoconus.’ “