Every year thousands of lives are improved through eye donation. Valuable research still needs to be carried out to develop treatments and gain insight into various eye diseases.
Our charity, St Paul's Research Foundation funds ground-breaking research into treating eye disease and preventing sight loss.
We funded two members of staff to set up and run the Liverpool Research Eye Biobank (LREB), a facility run between The Royal Liverpool and Aintree University Hospitals and the Department of Eye and Vision Science at the University of Liverpool. The two units have the joint aim of securing, collecting and supplying human eye tissue for research.
There are a number of diseases, such as glaucoma, macular degeneration, corneal scarring and diabetes which can damage the delicate tissues of the eye and cause profound sight loss. Research into these conditions is crucial, if more effective treatments are to be found to prevent blindness. Such research, however, is dependent upon the availability of donated eye tissue.
The LREB supports research that will lead to significant advances in our understanding and treatment of these diseases and may lead to new treatments that will improve the quality of life for many people.
Anyone can donate to research regardless of age, health conditions or sight problems. The Liverpool Research Eye Biobank gives people undergoing eye surgery the opportunity to donate tissue samples that are removed from their eyes during surgery. In addition, it also enables families of people who have passed away the opportunity to donate eye tissue.
This donation of such tissue will make a real difference to ground-breaking research by world-leading scientists.
Without the Foundation’s support to launch the Liverpool Research Eye Bank we would not have been able to perform studies that are vital for our research into the cause and treatments of blinding conditions. The eye bank has enabled numerous projects to extend our research ability and has contributed to our scientists’ increased international recognition. In addition, the facility has generated interest from research institutions around the globe who want to replicate our set-up.
Dr Carl Sheridan, Senior Lecturer, Dept of Eye and Vision Science, University of Liverpool
I would like to offer my sincere thanks to the donors and their families for agreeing to donate eye tissue to research. I say this as the manager of the LREB but also as a researcher in the Department of Eye and Vision Science. In our department there are so many exciting new research projects making steps towards new treatments and better understanding of eye disease that are only made possible through the use of human ocular tissue. We are very fortunate to have the opportunity to access that tissue here in Liverpool, so we hope that the people of Liverpool continue to support the LREB.
Dr Hannah Levis, LREB Manager and Senior Lecturer, Dept of Eye and Vision Science, University of Liverpool.
Aintree University Hospital
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Aintree University Hospital
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