Kennedy Trust Senior Research Fellow Dr Elizabeth (Lizzy) C. Rosser, based at University College London, has been awarded a research prize from the Lister Institute of Preventive Medicine for her work on eye damage in Juvenile Idiopathic Arthritis (JIA).

JIA is the most common childhood disease of the joints, with a UK prevalence of 1 in 1000. For unknown reasons, some JIA patients develop uveitis, an inflammatory disorder of the eye, which can lead to life-long loss of sight. Lizzy’s group is investigating how different B cell populations contribute to joint, and now through the Lister Prize, eye damage in JIA. Understanding the contribution of B cells to uveitis pathology could lead to the development of novel B-cell targeted therapeutic strategies that prevent visual impairment in these children.

In response to the award, Lizzy commented, “Winning the Lister Prize will have a transformative impact on my new groups research portfolio. By supporting a whole new workstream in ocular immunology, we will be in a unique position to understand the ‘whole picture’ of JIA pathology – a devastating disease of childhood in which we are passionately pursuing new strategies to improve outcomes.”

For more information about this prestigious prize, please visit the Lister Institute of Preventive Medicine. To read more about Lizzy and her research, please click here.