Technology

Posted on April 22, 2020 by staff

Tej Kohli Cornea Institute offers grants for UK tech innovation

Technology

The Tej Kohli Cornea Institute, a project of philanthropist Tej Kohli, has established a series of grants to support UK-based innovations in science and technology with a clear pathway to alleviating corneal blindness.

Annual grants are available to UK-based projects led by scientists, ophthalmologists, doctors, researchers and influencers in science and technology. The Tej Kohli Cornea Institute has also paid out an emergency grant of £80,000 toward the development of a genetic vaccine for COVID-19.

The Tej Kohli Cornea Institute in the UK is building on its track record for making interventions to cure blindness by funding the invention of new and novel treatment solutions in the UK that can be scaled into poorer communities around the world.

The Institute will build on its research funding in the USA and its expertise gained from making treatment interventions to alleviate corneal blindness in India between 2015 and 2019.

An Advisory Board that includes experts in ophthalmology and experimental medicine from institutions such as Moorfields Eye Hospital and the UCL Institute of Ophthalmology will connect the Tej Kohli Cornea Institute with high-impact scientific projects across the UK.

“The UK ranks third out of 128 counties in the 2019 Global Innovation Index and more than half of UK postgraduate researchers come from outside of the UK,” said Kohli, co-Founder of the Tej Kohli Foundation.

“This UK ecosystem will enable the kind of unique interdisciplinary innovation that is needed to develop novel new solutions.”

Sajjad Ahmad, consultant corneal surgeon and clinical academic at Moorfields Eye Hospital, and Tej Kohli Cornea Institute Advisory Board member, added: “The UK is a leader in translating experimental medicine and laboratory science into corneal therapies. These grants will help to support UK ingenuity in developing new treatments that can be made accessible in poorer communities around the world.”