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  • The Importance of Eye Research

The Importance of Eye Research

Two million people in the UK are currently living with a significant degree of sight loss and that number is rising dramatically. Every day in the UK, 250 people are told that they are losing their sight. That’s one person every six minutes.

At the current level of funding, the number of people living with sight loss in the UK is set to double to 4 million by 2050. Only through greater investment in eye research will we find the new and improved treatments we need to beat sight loss forever. Yet, currently, less than 2% of all UK medical research funding is directed at eye disease

The likelihood of attracting transformative levels of eye research funding from government and large philanthropic grant makers will be directly proportional to the quantity and quality of research results the sector as a whole is able to produce. Our focus will continue to be on providing grants for early stage scientific research and, in doing so, to act as a catalyst for advancing knowledge and progress in the discovery of new treatments and prevention options. 

Together, we can beat sight loss forever. Please help by making a donation today.

DONATE

This short video explains how your donations to National Eye Research Centre are vital to finding new treatments for sight loss: 

Current research funded by National Eye Research Centre

Here are just some of the research projects we are currently funding that are making a difference to patients with eye diseases:

Identifying risk factors for retinal detachment - Dr Veronique Vitart, University of Edinburgh

Environmental triggers for AMD development - Professor Glen Jeffery, UCL

Understanding molecular disease pathways in uveitis - Dr David Copland, University of Bristol

Brain stimulation for Charles Bonnet Syndrome sufferers - Dr John Paul Taylor, Newcastle University

Please help us to continue to fund future research projects to help cure sight loss. As a donor, you are just as critical a part of the research team as the researchers themselves.

Together, we can beat sight loss forever. Please help by making a donation today.

DONATE

Published: 14th March, 2014

Updated: 22nd October, 2020

Author:

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The National Eye Research Centre is a Charitable Incorporated Organisation registered with the Charity Commission. Registered Charity Number 1156134

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