This is an exceptional opportunity to join a very strong team of clinical academic, scientific and industry partners with a track record of delivering the highest quality research. A successful candidate will be able to shape this applied project that will have far reaching impact. It is suitable for applicants from a number of backgrounds or for those wanting to develop in a number of different areas, for example Health Sciences, Computer Science or Psychology. Aspects of the project can be tailored to a successful candidate.
Dry Age-related macular degeneration (AMD) is a condition affecting the central vision of 600,000 people over the age of 50 in the UK with significant impact on well-being. Wet AMD (wAMD) is a rapidly progressing subgroup that develops from dry AMD, affects 40,000 new people in the UK every year and requires regular eye injections. The average age at presentation of wAMD is 80 years with the second eye becoming involved in a quarter or affected people within 3 years. Early detection with a commonly available optical coherence tomography (OCT) imaging based approach has the potential to identify those at risk at a stage where visual loss can minimised with treatment. The NHS is challenged with insufficient capacity in the traditional hospital setting to offer monitoring of those at high risk of disease.
The purpose of this project is
- to evaluate the ability to identify individuals at high risk of developing the wAMD,
- to evaluate participant acceptability to undertake Optical Coherence Tomography monitoring in a non-hospital setting,
- to assess participants well-being, and
- to evaluate the role of artificial intelligence in the process.
Participants with high risk dry AMD will be recruited from community optometrists, Diabetic Eye disease screening services and Hospital eye services as a part of routine care, and would be randomised to this observation study to either continue with standard care (home paper based monitoring and routine optometry visits) or to enter an OCT based monitoring programme. Key end points are adherence, acceptability and wellbeing at 12 months. Additional end points are numbers of participants developing wet AMD and their visual acuity at the point of conversion. An important end point is to assess if an image detection artificial intelligence algorithm would accurately identify early development.
There is currently no screening or monitoring program for such individuals’ risk of this disease in the UK. This work will form part of a growing body of evidence to call for such a program and it potentially very impactful across the UK and beyond.
A successful candidate will not only benefit from supervision from leading International experts in the field and but will also join a community of York Biomedical Research Institute Doctoral students. The research environment is not only supportive and provides training in basic methodology but is also fun!
We look forward to welcoming you.
Twitter: @YorkEyeResearch
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We are proud to be partnered with one of the largest investors in Eye health care globally.
https://www.roche.com/solutions/focus-areas/ophthalmology
Benefits of being in the DiMeN DTP:
This project is part of the Discovery Medicine North Doctoral Training Partnership (DiMeN DTP), a diverse community of PhD students across the North of England researching the major health problems facing the world today. Our partner institutions (Universities of Leeds, Liverpool, Newcastle, York and Sheffield) are internationally recognised as centres of research excellence and can offer you access to state-of the-art facilities to deliver high impact research.
We are very proud of our student-centred ethos and committed to supporting you throughout your PhD. As part of the DTP, we offer bespoke training in key skills sought after in early career researchers, as well as opportunities to broaden your career horizons in a range of non-academic sectors.
Being funded by the MRC means you can access additional funding for research placements, international training opportunities or internships in science policy, science communication and beyond. See how our current DiMeN students have benefited from this funding here: https://www.dimen.org.uk/blog
Further information on the programme and how to apply can be found on our website:
https://www.dimen.org.uk/how-to-apply
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