20 September 2000 Lincoln research studies causes of cataracts

A Lincoln University research project which aims to identify the processes associated with cataract formation has received special funding from the University's Fund for Excellence.

Lucinda Robertson, a PhD student in the University's Animal and Food Sciences Division is among six students and five staff members who have shared an allocation of funds raised from alumni and distributed to promising research projects.

Cataracts affect millions of people each year, but the exact processes that result in the various types of cataracts are not known. Lucinda Robertson's research will involve a line of sheep at the University that have an inherited cataract trait. The initial aim is to investigate how calpains, a type of enzyme found in the eye, influence the formation of the cataract. Once the process of cataract formation is understood, the research will focus on what genes are associated with the process and what agents can be administered to inhibit it.

Ms Robertson will travel to the Oregon Health Sciences University in the United States to learn advanced biochemical and molecular techniques that will help in investigating the changes in the lenses of the Lincoln sheep.

"We're working with sheep because we have access to animals that inherit cataracts, and because the lens of the sheep's eye is about the same size as a human lens," she says. "The techniques that are used at Oregon Health Sciences University will help us to understand the underlying causes of cataracts in humans. Furthermore, it gives Lincoln University access to techniques which are being developed to investigate selenium induced cataracts in rats, funded by the National Institute of Health. This New Zealand-United States link is valuable for advancing this and other research at Lincoln."

Lincoln's Fund for Excellence was the first of its kind established by a New Zealand university, and aims to promote excellence in teaching, research and student services using funds collected in an annual appeal to alumni, University Council members and friends of Lincoln University.

Ian Collins, Journalist, Lincoln University, Canterbury, New Zealand