Opening the Eye Lab

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The ROC Eye Lab is a multidisciplinary clinical academic community focused on devising new diagnostics and treatments for blinding eye diseases.

As part of the opening celebrations Alastair Maclean, Trustee of the Robert O Curle Charitable Trust and family member of Mr Curle, was welcomed back to the IRR. He was given the opportunity to visit the finished lab spaces and met with the resident researchers.

Born in Edinburgh, Robert Ormiston Curle served as accountant for the University from 1946 until his retirement in 1980. Following his death in 1991, his sister Hester established the Robert O Curle Charitable Trust. As a University Benefactor, the trust has generously funded numerous projects in animal and human health.

Baljean Dhillon, Professor of Clinical Ophthalmology at the University of Edinburgh, delivered a presentation on the laboratory’s technologies and aims to the 150 guests invited to the event.

The Robert O Curle (ROC) Trust has been invaluable, enabling us to establish a unique Ophthalmology Suite, IRR, University of Edinburgh. This is a crucible for applied clinical research and innovation for our multidisciplinary team of investigators comprising PhD students, post-docs, senior scientists and clinical academics with a shared vision - to preserve sight and reduce blindness from common diseases, for example macular degeneration, through the study of ocular neurodegeneration and pre-clinical diagnostics, gene editing and cell replacement.

Baljean Dhillon

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The visit coincided with the official opening of the new IRR South building which is home to over 500 scientists specialising in inflammation, reproductive health and regenerative medicine. IRR South sits adjacent to IRR North (completed in 2011) and together both buildings host over 1000 staff and students supporting world-class bench-to-bedside research.

The ROC Eye Lab is vital part of the new £110m facility at Edinburgh BioQuarter. With a vision to protect, repair and restore eye tissues, the lab harnesses innovative technologies to devise better methods for reducing the risk of degenerative disease progression.