Major advances in the global fight against eye disease

A new partnership between scientists in Wales and Japan is set to bring major advances in the global fight against eye disease.

Worldwide nearly 50 million people are blind and another 150 million are victims of severe visual disability.

Now research offering a better understanding of the genetics controlling endemic eye diseases will be advanced by an international collaboration between Cardiff University’s School of Optometry and Vision Sciences and the Department of Opthalmology, Kyoto Prefectural University of Medicine, Japan.

Professor Mike Boulton, Head of School of Optometry and Vision Sciences said: "This exciting and innovative partnership between two world-leading eye research groups will significantly improve our chances to treat a variety of eye diseases."

A number of subject areas have been identified for collaborative research including analysis of the optic discs for early diagnosis of glaucoma patients, which affects 70 million people across the world; improvement in the preservation of donor corneas for transplantation and identifying the genes responsible for high myopia.