Source: Zhongshan Ophthalmic Center
Written by: Wang Jiawei
Edited by: Wang Dongmei

The Zhongshan Ophthalmic Center (ZOC) recently signed a memorandum with the National Eye Institute (USA) and included in this, the participation of the National Institute for Health Biomedical Research Centre at Moorfields Eye Hospital UCL (UK), University Hospitals Bristol and University of Bristol (UK) and the Department of Ophthalmology, Chinese University of Hong Kong.

This memorandum will expand the UNITE consortium for the advancement of international collaboration in the field of human ocular immunology.

The collaborative international research program, abbreviated UNITE, stands for Universities and National Institutes Transatlantic Eye Consortium for Human Ocular Immunology.

This endeavor was the brain child of Dr. Robert Nussenblatt of the National Eye Institute (USA) in collaboration with nationally recognized, leading investigators in China and the UK.

The new agreement replaces the former collaboration agreement between NEI (USA) and the National Institute for Health Research (UK) that was signed in May, 2012.

As one of the two leading eye research institutions in China; Zhongshan Ophthalmic Center (ZOC) recently joined the UNITE consortium after signing a memorandum in Seattle, Washington.

The expansion of the consortium will harness the unique patient resources and scientific expertise of the NEI (USA), the UK’s National Health Service and the Chinese institutions.

The consortium will focus on the full range of human immune mechanisms leading to ocular inflammation by correlating information about diseases such as uveitis, AMD and diabetic retinopathy.

With comprehensive laboratory studies, it is hoped that the observations resulting from this collaboration may be translated in the future into robust human trials.

The international consortium members will share technologies and biological material from each participant’s unique patient population and experimental models, for the purpose of future scientific discovery.

The participating institutions will also be sharing protocols to standardize clinical practice in the area of human ocular immunology.