Researcher Home Page : Stephen Tuft

Cataract outcome, corneal wound healing, epithelial transplantation, keratoconus
Cataract Research: Active research is in progress to assess the outcome of cataract surgery. A large prospective database has been maintained of all patients undergoing surgery to determine the refractive outcome of surgery and the achieved visual acuity. This has provided information that is vital in developing guidelines for informed patient consent prior to surgery. Collaboration has been established with Professor Steve Gallivan of the Operational research Unit, University College London to model mathematically patient waiting lists for cataract surgery to develop optimum strategies for listing patients after priority scoring of visual disability.

External Disease Research: I have developed and maintained the databases to monitor emerging resistance to first line antibiotics used for treatment of bacterial keratitis and endophthalmitis. Data is also collected on the spectrum of organisms isolated from cases of fungal keratitis. This provides up to date information for advising on treatment of severe ocular infections. I have an active laboratory-based research program into transplantation of corneal epithelium. This is to develop methods of reconstruction of the ocular surface after severe injury. This work is performed in collaboration with Professor Peng Khaw, and a PhD student is presently nearing the completion of her studies.

Corneal Research: I have an active research interest in corneal wound healing, particularly with reference to laser refractive surgery. I have finished supervising an MD project into the role of matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) in repair after superficial keratectomy, and this has also evaluated some potential MMP inhibitors as agents to prevent scar formation. This work is continuing, with investigations into the role of specific antibodies against TGF-b. Novel techniques have been developed with Professor Fred Fitzke of the Institute of Ophthalmology to measure the intensity and depth of corneal scars to monitor effect in these studies.? I am supervising the collection of clinical data to establish a patient base for an investigation into the genetic basis of keratoconus. Keratoconus is the commonest of the corneal dystrophies/degenerations. This work is performed in collaboration with Professor Bhatacharia of the Institute of Ophthalmology. A long-standing collaboration has been maintained with Professor Keith Meek of The University of Cardiff to continue investigation into the structural abnormalities of keratoconus