Delegates at 2005 workshop
Abingdon, England
Southampton genetics team
Tobii eye tracker in action in Cardiff

Help us to help others

Many staff in hospital eye departments want to do more to help people with nystagmus. The reality is that they rarely have the time. In addition, other people who have nystagmus themselves are often best placed to answer the questions that, for example, the parents of a newly diagnosed child have. So thatís where the Nystagmus Network steps in by providing support and information.

We also encourage and fund research, including:

• 2005 – £18,000 for the first ever international nystagmus research workshop leading to new projects in Abingdon, UK.
• 2007 – £5,000 for genetics research by Southampton University to build on the discovery of the first gene (FRMD7) associated with nystagmus.
• 2009 – £25,000 funding for the second international nystagmus research workshop in Abingdon, UK.
• 2010 – £10,000 to Cardiff University for innovative eye tracking equipment to diagnose infants and investigate how and why our eyes move.
• 2011 – Offer (pending) of £8,000 towards the purchase of an OCT (Ocular Coherence Tomography) scanner by the Leicester nystagmus research group.

Dr Jonathan Erichsen: "As the Director of the Research Unit for Nystagmus (RUN) here at Cardiff University, I wanted to express our sincere gratitude to everyone at the Nystagmus Network, including its members, whose generous donation has made it possible for us to purchase a state-of-the-art eye movement recording system, the Tobii X120. In addition to the fact that we are now in a position to measure non-invasively how people view simple and complex scenes, the acquisition of the Tobii system allows us, for the first time, to investigate the eye movements of even very young children with nystagmus. This should enable us, in the future, to document the actual development of nystagmus at an early age and its effect on children's vision in a variety of environments."

Comment from a delegate at the 2009 research workshop: "It was extremely valuable! It is a fantastic opportunity to meet and exchange ideas with people in the field. A unique occasion that is very useful for clinicians and scientists."