We would like to congratulate Ph.D. student Melissa Tordoff for achieving the Young Investigator Award with the British Society for Rheumatology (BSR)! Based at the University of Manchester, Melissa is involved in CLUSTER as her research focuses on genetic risk factors associated with increased risk of uveitis in patients with JIA.
Please follow the link to read her full interview with the BSR: https://rheumatology.org.uk/news/details/young-investigator-award-winner-melissa-tordoff
Lay summary of Melissa’s research
A common complication of juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA) is uveitis. Uveitis is inflammation inside the eye. Without prompt and effective treatment, uveitis can lead to sight loss. Investigating the genetics of uveitis may help us to work out which individuals with JIA are at increased risk of developing uveitis. My research has found several genetic risk factors. We have investigated these genetic risk factors alongside other recognised factors such as the subtype of JIA and gender of the patient. We found that individuals with oligoarticular JIA, and those with rheumatoid factor (RF) negative polyarticular JIA, may carry these genetic risk factors that make them at high risk to develop uveitis. In the future, including genetic tests in uveitis screening will help identify individuals who carry these genes so that they can be monitored for uveitis. This will aid early diagnosis and prompt treatment of uveitis and help to prevent severe disease.
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