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Other Coventry & Warwickshire events

Fight for Sight - what's going on in the world of research?

Please note this event takes place on the first floor and has no step-free access.
Past event - 2018
16 May Doors 19:00
Event 19:30 to 21:30
The Royal Pug, 141 Regent St,
Coventry & Warwickshire CV32 4NX
Come and learn about groundbreaking eye research, and how it's protecting your sight. With a talk from your host Debbie White about her work with Fight for Sight then some fantastic research being carried out just down the road at the University of Birmingham. This event is being run with Fight For Sight, proceeds from ticket sales will go to Fight For Sight.

New technologies to prevent blindness following damage to eye

Professor Liam Grover (Professor in Biomaterials Science, University of Birmingham)
The surface of the eye, or cornea, is organised like a grating, so that light can pass through. When the surface is damaged, the body can repair the defect, but often the the healed tissue does not have this grating pattern. As a consequence light cannot pass through and the eye becomes cloudy and the patient becomes blind. In order to repair this damage, the patient may require a transplant, the placement of which requires a delicate operation. We have developed an eye drop material that organises the collagen grating that is formed on the surface of the eye. This talk will discuss how we have designed this material, using everyday food products as an inspiration!

Neanderthals and the Silk Road Disease

Dr Graham Wallace (Senior Lecture in Ocular Inflammation, University of Birmingham)
Behcet’s Disease (BD) is a multisystem inflammatory disorder that affects the mouth, eyes, skin gut and genitals and is known as the Silk Road Disease. The cause of BD is unknown but patients suffer from persistent painful ulcers at mouth and gut surfaces which then enter into the eye and brain. There is a genetic basis for BD involving a gene called 'HLA-B*51'.

A recent programme sequenced the genome of Neanderthals and showed that individuals in Western Europe have 1-3% of their genes derived from these ancestors. The gene for HLA-B*51 is one of those passed down from Neanderthals, therefore it is a very old gene that has been maintained over a long time. This talk will discuss the relevance of these findings in the context of BD and the incredible work of the geneticists who have sequenced the Neanderthal genome.
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