Queensland Eye Institute (QEI) Executive Director and CEO, Professor Mark Radford, and Chief Scientist Professor Traian Chirila, travelled to Romania recently to review progress on research projects at the G.E. Palade University of Medicine, Pharmacy, Science and Technology (UMFST) in Târgu Mureș.
Dr Alexandra Manta, a QEI ophthalmologist with expertise and research interests in oculoplastic therapies, joined Professors Radford and Chirila for the visit.
Now in its second year, the joint research initiative is based on photochemical crosslinking of collagenous tissues to develop therapies for:
- treating eyelid laxity
- preventing ruptured aneurysm
- treating ligament and tendon laxity
This latest visit by QEI researchers further strengthened the relationship between USMFT and QEI and allowed the multi-disciplinary research team to plan its next steps.
“The trip was very successful,” Professor Radford says.
“Just being there, even if it’s for three or four days, is important.
“We concluded proof of concept studies and worked out how to potentially move to human studies,” he says.
“We’ve also strengthened the relationships with staff and students,” Professor Radford says.
The Romanian research scientists at UMFST are all qualified medical doctors, often conducting experiments and writing up results late into the night after a full day in surgery or in clinics seeing patients.
In addition to learning more about the current research, QEI’s Dr Manta shared her oculoplastic expertise with her Romanian colleagues, demonstrating advanced surgical techniques to the local team.
