We are delighted to announce that we have just heard from Fight for Sight that the call for the Joint Small Grant Awards Scheme is now open.
The link to the Small Grant Awards Schemes webpage is http://fightforsight.org.uk/
This year we have three small grants of £15,000 available for Birdshot Research. The closing date for applications is 5pm on Wednesday 27 August 2014.
BUS recently received an invitation below and would like to advertise the following Uveitis event and encourage members to attend if they live close by and are are interested and able. It’s a great initiative and gives you an opportunity to meet others who suffer from Birdshot and learn more about the Birdshot and Uveitis research that is being undertaken at the Wilmer Eye Institute. Continue reading
BUS is delighted to report that the second “Birdshot Clay Pigeon Shoot” at the Royal Berkshire Shooting School, Pangbourne was a resounding success, equaling the fantastic results achieved in 2013. Continue reading
Below are links to the different talks which were given at the 2013 Birdshot Symposium, hosted by Stephen Foster from the Ocular Immunology and Uveitis Foundation in Boston USA. Its a terrific resource of talks given by specialists from across the world, which you can dip into if you want to find out more and hear what the experts have to say. Note: they are aimed at doctors not patients so they are quite technical and detailed so will probably be better watched in separate sessions. They are posted on the Ocular Immunology and Uveitis Foundation website:http://www.uveitis.org/video/
BUS had a fantastic afternoon on the Phoenician Thames Sailing Barge last Saturday 3rd May, thanks to our hosts John and Janet Hall, and our fantastic speakers, Prof Glen Jeffery from the Institute of Ophthalmology and Chris Hogg a clinical scientist from Moorfields Eye Hospital. Over 30 birdshotters and their friends met socially in the beautiful informal setting. Continue reading
The Birdshot Uveitis Society International facebook group has become super active over the last few months. Its membership has more than doubled with a membership of circa 150, involved in numerous discussion threads where people are able to chat about their Birdshot, get support from others with the condition or even just have a moan! If you haven’t visited the group and want to share information with other birdshot sufferers, you can drop in at https://www.facebook.com/groups/Birdshot/. It’s very easy to ask and answer questions and keep in touch. Although it is not as private a discussion venue as the BUS Birdshot forum, (where you have to be a member and logged in to see the posts,) people seem to like the familiar facebook format. There is real sense of camaraderie amongst a growing international community. Continue reading
Jonas Kuiper from Holland recently contacted us to let us know that a research paper on the characterization of Immune cells in the eye of two birdshot patients has recently been published. They successfully identified that the infiltrated cells are predominantly T cells and that they are directed to both retina and choroid. Although this has been assumed for decades, this research provided the first evidence that T cells directed against the eye are present in the eyes of birdshot patients. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24530754.
Akbar Shakoor, MD, and Albert T. Vitale MD, Salt Lake City
– See more at: http://www.revophth.com/content/d/retinal_insider/c/42258/#sthash.UodcC2eS.dpuf
Albert Vitale was one of the speakers at the International Birdshot Symposium held in Boston, USA in September 2013. Continue reading
Genetic Alliance in partnership with Alexion Pharma have now successfully raised 2000 hands to feature on a sculpture being made for Rare Disease Day. They are now extending an invitation to BUS members (amongst others with a rare disease) to come along to the launch which takes place at London’s Science Museum on 28th February from 12.00 – 14.00. Continue reading
BUS has had an enquiry from a member who is in the UK who would like to email or talk to someone who has had a vitrectomy. Continue reading