Our funded researcher Prof. Campbell’s new equipment for studying degenerative retinal diseases

We are delighted to share an update on the Fighting Blindness funded project led by Professor Matthew Campbell at Trinity College Dublin (TCD). As part of SFI-EYE-D strategic partnership, Prof. Campbell has invested in the Echo Revolution Microscope, made possible through Fighting Blindness funding.

The image shows the Echo Revolution Microscope and the touch screen that comes with it for the high analysis of the retina cells.
The Echo Revolution Microscope comes with a high-analysis touch screen.

Professor Campbell is leading EYE-D, a €3.2 million research project focused on degenerative retinal diseases under the Science Foundation Ireland (SFI) Strategic Partnership Programme. Fighting Blindness is one of the partners in this exciting project, and Prof. Cambell’s team in TCD received the Echo Revolution Microscope through our funding on the award.

The image shows the Fighting Blindness plaque. On the plaque there is the Fighting Blindness logo and the following text: Echo Revolution Microscope Funded by the charity Fighting Blindness Ireland Through the award FB22CAM as part of the SFI EYE-D Strategic Partnership Principal Investigator Professor Matthew Campbell Trinity College Dublin, Ireland
The Fighting Blindness plaque, placed next to the Echo Revolution microscope.

The Echo Revolution Microscope is the only combined inverted and upright microscope currently on the market. It allows researchers to conduct live cell imaging as well as very detailed imaging of retina samples.

The overall aim of the EYE-D project is to identify the underlying causes of some of the most common forms of blindness, therefore Prof. Campbell hopes that the Echo Revolution Microscope will help them advance the genetic analysis of the molecules that are driving the disease process in Age-related Macular Degeneration (AMD) and Inherited Retinal eye Diseases (IRDs).

The image is a close up to the different lenses of the Echo Revolution microscope. In the background there is the touch screen.
A close up to the Echo Revolution microscope different lenses.

We had the opportunity to attend the Microscope unveiling day at the Smurfit Institute of Genetics in TCD where Prof. Campbell together with the PhD student Kieva Byrne showed us the microscope’s features, talked about the difference the microscope is already making in their work and highlighted how Fighting Blindness funding made it possible.

Prof. Campbell and the PhD student Kieva Byrne standing next to the Echo Revolution Microscope at the Smurfit Institute of Genetics in TCD.
Prof. Campbell and the PhD student Kieva Byrne with the Echo Revolution Microscope.

You can listen below to what Prof. Campbell told us about the importance of the microscope to their work and how Fighting Blindness support has made a difference to their research:

 

  • To download the mp3 version of the file directly to your device, please click here:

Prof. Matthiew Campbell about the Echo Revolution Microscope 

 

  • To learn more about Prof. Campbell’s work, please click here.

 

Without funding, there is no research. To donate please click here.