A collage of six photos from a Rare Disease Day event at Moorfields Eye Hospital showing researchers from the UCL Institute of Ophthalmology engaging with visitors. Scientists are posing in groups wearing “Talk to me, I’m a Scientist” badges in front of an NIHR Moorfields Biomedical Research Centre roll banner. In one image, a scientist is demonstrating strawberry DNA extraction in a large test tube and is holding up the red DNA extract to the camera.

For #RareDiseaseDay our BRC and @moorfieldsfriends.bsky.social hosted @ucleye.bsky.social researchers for a public engagement event.

Visitors learnt about rare eye disease research through stem cell science, new therapies and hands-on DNA demonstrations.

🔗: moorfieldsbrc.nihr.ac.uk/nihr-moorfie...

#CopernicusAtmosphere dust aerosol optical depth forecast shows a massive #SaharanDust plume crossing NW Africa, W Mediterranean + parts of Europe through the first week of March.

Read the article ⬇️

We are seeking a Research Assistant in Ocular Cell Biolog. The position would suit an ambitious graduate with a background in the mechanisms of repeat expansion biology, neurodegeneration, and human disease models. Closes 25 February. lnkd.in/exsVf68y

Happy 200th birthday, UCL! Today marks 200 years since UCL was founded, London's very first university. We are very proud to be part of its rich and diverse community of scientists, students and researchers. #UCL200

📸 february commutes

Also…star wars #fog2026

At the Festival of Genomics. Its always a vaguely overwhelming, but i appreciate so many relevant vendors assembling in one place #fog2026

@pacbio.bsky.social selfie with the Revio! #fog2026

Its wonderful to see the MIR184 story out now! I am grateful to have been a part of it all.

Day 1 at ESCRS congress in Copenhagen. Even as a research scientist, I’m thoroughly enjoying Cornea Day!

The coffee break pastries have also been absolutely outstanding

Good luck to all Canadians on election day! Go out and vote! 🍁🍁🍁🗳️🗳️🗳️

Biggest commitment to a 3 second joke I've ever seen

The “resurrected” dire wolves are corporate horseshit approaching Theranos levels of snake oil

Good summary below:

Figure 1. Slit-scanning in vivo confocal microscopy images of the corneal endothelium: A) Healthy control cornea: Image of a normal corneal endothelium, showing a uniform hexagonal cell pattern with consistent cell density and no visible guttae or abnormalities (white solid arrowhead). B) FECD: Increased confluency of guttata, illustrating a more extensive presence of these structures. Both black and white images.

A large-scale study in JAMA Ophthalmology by Alice Davidson's lab uncovers demographic and sex factors behind genetic cause of age-related visual loss. Paving the way for more personalised treatments for FECD, moving beyond cornea transplants to gene therapies.
🔗 buff.ly/Xs2F8yM
@ucleye.bsky.social

Happy to announce that our large cohort study has been finally published in #JAMA! Its so satisfying to see it all presented in one place, I'm so grateful for being a part of it. jamanetwork.com/journals/jam... @chistinazar.bsky.social

De novo and inherited dominant variants in U4 and U6 snRNAs cause retinitis pigmentosa The U4 small nuclear RNA (snRNA) forms a duplex with the U6 snRNA and, together with U5 and ∼30 proteins, is part of the U4/U6.U5 tri-snRNP complex, located at the core of the major spliceosome. Recen...

Check out this v interesting preprint. RNU variants associated with RP. Components of spliceosome are fascinating

www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1...

The institute has a new mascot that reaaaaally wants to join in at lab meeting.

His name is Georgiana and he is Chonk

It’s been terrible for ages. But, tbh, I haven’t liked them in at least 15+ years. Will still demolish some chocolate timbits though…

I foolishly signed up for a race with some of my lab colleagues in January. So now I’m obligated to put in a good show. Trying out the Runna app this time. I have to say though, a happy playlist and a gorgeous sunrise really does make it easier.

I should probably start making posts here, eh?