Agenda The latest news from the College and profession
/ RESEARCH
Success in RCSEd-supported project for treatment of genetic blindness
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CSEd Fellow Professor Robert MacLaren (pictured) has announced a major breakthrough in the use of gene therapy for the treatment of blindness. He and his research team improved the vision in a cohort of six patients with choroidaeremia using an operation to place the virus under the retina. They now believe gene therapy surgery could be used to cure other forms of genetic blindness. The project was first supported by a grant from the RCSEd in 2008, which allowed the Oxford-based team to expand and to gain further funding through the use of preliminary data. Thanking the RCSEd for the original grant, Professor MacLaren commented: “This grant was the only one I held when I transferred my research to take up a new chair at the University of Oxford. It enabled me to employ a postdoctoral assistant and continue this work straight away. We went
on to appoint three postdoctoral assistants with four clinical PhD students.” The Chairman of RCSEd’s Awards and Grants Committee, Professor Ken Fearon, said: “We are delighted to see the translational
success of Professor MacLaren’s programme of research and his generous recognition of the initial grant support he received from Royal Blind via the RCSEd. This demonstrates the importance of targeted research funding in surgery and its subspecialties.”
Professor MacLaren and his team used gene therapy surgery to treat blindness
McDonald appointed convener of dental examinations / dental
The Faculty of Dental Surgery has appointed Professor Fraser McDonald (pictured) as convener of dental examinations. Professor McDonald is currently a Member of Dental Council and chair of the College’s Specialty Advisory Board in Orthodontics. A highly experienced postgraduate teacher
and examiner, he will bring a wealth of experience of College examinations and the activities of the Faculty to his new post. Outside the RCSEd, Fraser McDonald is professor and head of orthodontics at the Dental Institute, King’s College in London, and is an honorary consultant in
orthodontics. He is a Fellow of the Dental Faculty Without Examination since 1998 and was appointed the James IV Professor of the College in 2002. He will take up his position as examinations convener in March 2014. www.rcsed.ac.uk | 5