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| SPEAKER |
| Mr Alex J Shortt MRCOphth |
| Specialist Registrar in Ophthalmology |
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Hillingdon Hospital NHS Trust
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MEETING
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January 2009 |
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| BIOGRAPHY |
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Mr. Alex Shortt was trained in University College Dublin Medical School and graduated MB BS in 1999. He then gained an MSc in Physiology in 2001 at University College Dublin Medical School. He undertook his clinical training in ophthalmology at Moorfields Eye Hospital, London as a Senior House Officer and later as a Specialist Registrar. He studied for a PhD in Ophthalmology at UCL/Institute of Ophthalmology from 2003 to 2007 (thesis, ??Characterisation of the corneal limbal epithelial stem cell niche? currently being submitted). The PhD was funded by an MRC Clinical Research Training Fellowship. Alex is currently a Specialist Registrar in Ophthalmology at Hillingdon Hospital NHS Trust. In August 2009 he will commence a four year NIHR Clinical Lectureship in ophthalmic translational research.
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| TALK |
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Genetic Regulation of Corneal Limbal Epithelial Stem Cells and the Implications for Restoring Vision
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| DESCRIPTION |
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Transparency of the cornea, and therefore vision, is dependent upon functional limbal epithelial stem cells (LESC) which maintain the corneal epithelium. Depletion of LESC results in painful, blinding, ocular surface disease. Cultured LESC therapy has the potential to restore vision in patients with LESC failure, however, little is known about the characteristics and functionality of the LESC niche. The team has previously identified a novel epithelial stem cell niche in the human limbus and has now identified a similar putative niche in the normal mouse eye. Using a murine model of the human LESC deficiency disease aniridia, it was recently found that haploinsufficiency of the eye development gene Pax6 has a profound effect on the structural and physiological features of the LESC niche. These include alterations in fibroblast and epithelial cell function. Despite the complexity of aniridia, it emerges that cultured allogeneic LESC therapy has the potential to improve vision. The outcome of this therapeutic strategy in patients at Moorfields Eye Hospital, London will also be presented.
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MEDIA
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Audio
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