Aston gains funds to set up laser eye unit

Aston University will become the first UK optometry school to incorporate a major laser eye surgery research facility when it opens a special unit next autumn.
Sponsorship for the Cornea and Refractive Surgery Research Centre (CRSRC) from the Science Research Investment Fund (SRIF) was confirmed last Friday.
SRIF is backed by the Office of Science and Technology, the Higher Education Funding Council for England and the worldÕs largest medical research charity, the Wellcome Trust.
A grant of £1.85m towards estates and equipment costs to set up the centre was awarded. Further funding is currently being sought from industrial sponsors.
The CRSRC will be a multi-disciplinary centre staffed jointly by optometrists, consultant ophthalmologists and ophthalmic nurses. Research assistants will have both optometric and medical backgrounds. The centre will integrate optometry with surgical, physiological, pharmaceutical and bio-medical engineering research disciplines.
Dr Sarah Hosking, AstonÕs lecturer and director of postgraduate development, who raised the sponsorship will be the centreÕs director.
She told optician: ÔEveryone at Aston University is delighted at this news. There is a strong feeling here that optometry has not aligned itself closely enough to this expanding area of research and clinical practice. There is currently no major research facility in Europe and we are delighted to be the first optometry school in the UK to embrace the idea.Õ
The bidding process closed at the end of May. The department had to win a difficult internal process to be awarded the external application.
It is believed that Aston had applied for a total of £2.5m, which is why it is currently looking to the optical industry to make up the shortfall.