On Monday 6 March, three researchers from across the Faculty of Health and Life Sciences attended Parliament to present their work at the STEM for Britain finals. Devon Crouch, a PhD student from the Department of Eye and Vision Science, won the gold medal in the biological and biomedical sciences session for his poster, “Stop Thief! Using Biomaterials to Tackle Glaucoma”. Devon reveals more about this unique experience and his award-winning research.
STEM for Britain was a once in a lifetime opportunity, that I am enormously grateful I got to be a part of. Attending an exhibition at the House of Commons was surreal but extremely exciting. Meeting fellow PhD students, MPs and sponsors of the event was a great networking opportunity and it really demonstrated the breadth of significant research being conducted in the UK.
My poster discussed tackling glaucoma using biomaterials. Glaucoma is the UK’s leading cause of irreversible blindness and is dubbed the silent thief of sight. For decades, people have lost their vision to this disease, which has gone undetected as there are no symptoms in the early stages of development. Glaucoma is caused by pressure build-up in the eye due to loss in tissue function of the eye’s biological sieve, the trabecular meshwork. By using biomaterials, we can manufacture a scaffold that mimics this tissue’s sieve-like structure and ‘trick’ cells grown on these materials to function as if they were within their natural environment. This device could then be surgically implanted to repopulate and rejuvenate diseased tissue with healthy cells to restore normal functionality.
Over the course of the day I met so many interesting individuals. All were welcoming, complimentary, and eager to learn more about research. The first person I spoke to was John Spellar, a Labour MP for Warley in the Black Country. He showed great enthusiasm in my research, in particular with the timeframe it takes for therapeutics to reach clinical use.
The whole experience was like a fever dream and the main thing I took away from the experience is that step by step we, as PhD students, are really making a difference to help our respective fields. All of us involved in research should often take a step back and realise the great work we are doing to mould the future and really make a change.
The standard of posters that were on display was astounding and I am still shocked I managed to take home the gold prize medal for my category (biological and biomedical sciences). I am very proud of the research that I have conducted over the past 4 years and to have that recognised by MPs and a panel of judges is amazing. It cements to me that I am doing work that makes a difference.
I’m ready for the next chapter of my research career and whether that be academic research or industrial research, the world truly is my oyster. I’m excited for what is next to come but for now I will focus on finishing my PhD and conduct the best research I can to make that next step as smooth as possible.
You can find Devon on Twitter at @DevonC_UoL and a video of his research can be found on YouTube.