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James Bainbridge MA PhD FRCOphth

James Bainbridge MA PhD FRCOphthJames Bainbridge is a surgeon-scientist at the NIHR Biomedical Research Centre for Ophthalmology at Moorfields Eye Hospital and UCL Institute of Ophthalmology. His aim is to develop effective new treatments for blinding diseases of the retina, which are responsible in the majority of people with sight impairment. He leads a programme of basic research to identify new therapeutic strategies for ocular vascular diseases and is engaged in a programme of translational research to develop innovative gene and cell therapies. In 2007 he performed the world’s first gene therapy for inherited blindness (Bainbridge et al. N Engl J Med 2008), demonstrating proof of-concept that offers hope for people with inherited retinal degeneration. Professor Bainbridge leads Europe’s first clinical trial of human embryonic stem cells, a first-in-human study to investigate the potential of retinal cell transplantation in macular degeneration. In 2011 he was appointed to the Chair of Retinal Studies at UCL, and in 2012 to a NIHR Research Professorship.