NIHR Moorfields CRF

Moorfields Eye Hospital NHS Foundation Trust is the leading UK institution pioneering advances and transforming the lives of patients facing blindness.

The public are more concerned about losing vision than losing their memory, speech and hearing, or suffering heart disease, and the impact of severe visual impairment on quality-of-life is comparable to intractable pain, severe stroke or end-stage cancer (with an estimated cost to the UK economy of £23.6 billion/year).

Since its creation in 2007 (NIHR capital grant £2.4M), the NIHR Moorfields Clinical Research Facility (CRF) has pioneered the translation of laboratory discoveries for patient benefit.

This includes the first gene-therapy to cure an inherited human disease and the first stem-cell-membrane therapy to treat the commonest cause of blindness in the developed world.

Such landmark medical advances have cemented our pre-eminent international reputation for ophthalmic experimental-medicine and attracted biotech, device and pharmaceutical industry investment, underpinned by our NIHR Biomedical Research Centre (BRC) awards with the UCL Institute of Ophthalmology, which is independently ranked as number 1 and the most productive hospital-university partnership for eye and vision research globally.

Moorfields CRF s patient and public-defined inclusive research programme interfaces with a network of over 50 NHS hospitals in England and other collaborators to bridge early to late-phase clinical trials.

As the world s largest ocular experimental-medicine facility, our specialist inventory of ophthalmic imaging and vision assessment devices is unparalleled, supported by a world-leading digital infrastructure that is now closely integrated to CRF activities.

All of this draws on Moorfields highly diverse patient populations (we provide circa 45% of London s ophthalmic services) and unique national and international rare disease patient groups.

As a fully ambulatory day-case facility, we care for children and adults of all ages in a range of clinical environments designed to accommodate patients attending multiple, high-intensity assessments. Rooms are configured around equipment, procedures and need for controlled lighting conditions.

From 2007, we have grown from our core CRF infrastructure of 7,545ft2 to now encompass 11 other facilities within the hospital and the UCL Institute of Ophthalmology, including a visual-navigation assessment centre to assess FDA approved trial outcomes for severe visually impaired individuals.

We also provide virtual-reality education for our international peers in experimental surgical techniques, building on our strong in-house training platforms to sustain our growing talent-base in early-phase clinical trial design and delivery.

Aims and key objectives for 2022-27: Conduct more than 50 experimental medicine studies, prioritising research for untreatable or common eye diseases to reduce visual impairment and studies with greatest potential for patient and NHS national economic gain, including UK spin-outs (up to 5 new companies anticipated over next 5-years) Further develop our diverse future leaders and specialist workforce and expand industry and public partnerships, directly supporting entrepreneurship, to accelerate progression to later-phase trials nationally and internationally.

Create the world s most advanced ophthalmic experimental medicine facility with integrated digital, image-engineering, psychophysics, bioresource and cell manufacturing facilities at Oriel, Moorfields new state-of-the-art national centre for eye health in Kings Cross Knowledge Quarter (due to open 2026).