University of Southampton research to tackle vision loss in Albinism

A University of Southampton research project investigating a potential treatment for vision loss in Albinism has received a £542,000 grant from the Medical Research Council.

Dr Helena Lee, of the University of Southampton and University Hospital Southampton, leads research which has explored how replacing a key chemical, L-DOPA, that is deficient in children with Albinism could affect visual development.

Lee has previously found that a drug commonly used to treat Parkinson’s disease, Levodopa, may encourage normal retinal development in babies with Albinism.

The funding will enable Lee and her team to run a small-scale trial with around 10 babies with Albinism.

“Later we’d hope to run a larger one and also monitor the children’s progress as they grow up. We want to transform how we treat Albinism in children while also setting an important precedent for other paediatric eye diseases,” she said.

Alongside the Medical Research Council grant, fundraising efforts by Joe Marsden and Abby Arrowsmith for the Gift of Sight charity have helped to support the upcoming clinical trial.

Marsden and Arrowsmith, who both have young children with Albinism, raised over £42,000 to support the study.

Arrowsmith highlighted that it is exciting to imagine how many children could benefit from the research in years to come.

“As a family we are over the moon that the research has been given the go ahead,” she said.