The study is entitled “Optometric characterisation of eye movements in
Huntington’s disease”
Huntington’s disease”
Huntington’s disease (HD) is an inherited neurodegenerative disorder
resulting in progressive movement, cognitive, and behavioural
impairments over 20 years. It results from dysfunction and death of
medium spiny neurons in the striatum and consequential basal ganglia
circuitry disruption. There are limited symptomatic treatments for HD
and no disease modifying treatments, although potential treatment
strategies are starting to emerge. For clinical trials to be really
successful in HD, more objective outcome measures are required.
Eye movement abnormalities are an early and inevitable facet of the
phenotype, but are poorly measured in standard neurological tests.
There is a literature on the use of eye movement abnormalities to
follow disease progression in asymptomatic /early HD, but much less
work on the characterisation in moderate stage disease (when most drug
trials are undertaken). Furthermore, several debilitating symptoms of
HD, such as postural instability, are known to depend, at least in
part, on visual input, but the contribution of vision to these
symptoms has not been investigated and a better understanding could
lead to new treatment strategies.
resulting in progressive movement, cognitive, and behavioural
impairments over 20 years. It results from dysfunction and death of
medium spiny neurons in the striatum and consequential basal ganglia
circuitry disruption. There are limited symptomatic treatments for HD
and no disease modifying treatments, although potential treatment
strategies are starting to emerge. For clinical trials to be really
successful in HD, more objective outcome measures are required.
Eye movement abnormalities are an early and inevitable facet of the
phenotype, but are poorly measured in standard neurological tests.
There is a literature on the use of eye movement abnormalities to
follow disease progression in asymptomatic /early HD, but much less
work on the characterisation in moderate stage disease (when most drug
trials are undertaken). Furthermore, several debilitating symptoms of
HD, such as postural instability, are known to depend, at least in
part, on visual input, but the contribution of vision to these
symptoms has not been investigated and a better understanding could
lead to new treatment strategies.
The aims of this project are to define eye movement abnormalities in
HD for the purposes of (i) understanding whether eye movement
abnormalities may contribute to symptoms such as postural instability,
gait abnormalities and apraxia, and (ii) to identify key eye movement
abnormalities that could provide objective outcome measures for
emerging clinical interventions. Individuals with HD will be recruited
from the South Wales HD clinic and the eye movement analysis will
utilise infrastructure and expertise provided by Dr J Erichsen
(Optom). Our long-term strategy is to develop a comparative analysis
in HD transgenic mice alongside the human studies (in collaboration
with Prof S Dunnett), and the student will have the opportunity to
engage in the animal studies also, according to interest, background
and time.
HD for the purposes of (i) understanding whether eye movement
abnormalities may contribute to symptoms such as postural instability,
gait abnormalities and apraxia, and (ii) to identify key eye movement
abnormalities that could provide objective outcome measures for
emerging clinical interventions. Individuals with HD will be recruited
from the South Wales HD clinic and the eye movement analysis will
utilise infrastructure and expertise provided by Dr J Erichsen
(Optom). Our long-term strategy is to develop a comparative analysis
in HD transgenic mice alongside the human studies (in collaboration
with Prof S Dunnett), and the student will have the opportunity to
engage in the animal studies also, according to interest, background
and time.
Funding Information:
To be eligible to have fees paid for and receive a stipend, applicants
need to be from the UK or from the EU and have lived in the UK for the
last three years. EU students would only have fees paid for and no
stipend. The stipend for the first year is expected to be £13, 590.
need to be from the UK or from the EU and have lived in the UK for the
last three years. EU students would only have fees paid for and no
stipend. The stipend for the first year is expected to be £13, 590.
To apply you must also have achieved at least a 2:1 (or equivalent) in
a degree relevant to the project. If English is not your first
language you need to have achieved at least 6.5 in IELTS or equivalent.
a degree relevant to the project. If English is not your first
language you need to have achieved at least 6.5 in IELTS or equivalent.
This PhD studentship will be supervised by Prof. Anne Rosser at the
Cardiff School of Biosciences and Dr. Jon Erichsen at the Cardiff
School of Optometry & Vision Sciences.
Cardiff School of Biosciences and Dr. Jon Erichsen at the Cardiff
School of Optometry & Vision Sciences.
Informal enquiries to: Prof. Anne Rosser by phone at +44 (0)29
20875188 or by email at RosserAE at cf.ac.uk
20875188 or by email at RosserAE at cf.ac.uk
For further information about the School of Biosciences and the School
of Optometry and Vision Sciences, respectively, please go to these web
sites:
http://www.cardiff.ac.uk/biosi and http://www.cardiff.ac.uk/optom
of Optometry and Vision Sciences, respectively, please go to these web
sites:
http://www.cardiff.ac.uk/biosi and http://www.cardiff.ac.uk/optom
For an application pack, please go to this web site: http://www.cardiff.ac.uk/for/prospective/pg/apply/sendingapplication/index.html
Closing date: 28th February 2012
