Contact information
BIOGRAPHY
- Fellowship of the Royal College of Ophthalmologists (2016)
- Doctor of Philosophy, University of Oxford (2016)
- Royal Society of Medicine/ Wesleyan trainee of the year (2014)
- Oxford Ophthalmological congress Founder's cup (2014)
- Dermot Pierse prize in Ophthalmology, Royal Society of Medicine (2014)
- Wellcome Trust clinical research training fellowship (2010)
- Harcourt medal (highest mark MRCOphth part 3), Royal College of Ophthalmologists (2008)
- Membership of the Royal College of Physicians (2006)
- Proxime Accessit (joint 2nd place final BM examination), University of Oxford (2003)
- BMBCh, University of Oxford (2003)
- BA (Neuroscience), 1st class, University of Cambridge (2000)
- College Prize & Rolleston scholarship, St John's College, University of Cambridge (1998,1999, 2000)
Samantha de Silva
MA (Cantab) BMBCh MRCP FRCOphth DPhil
Honorary Clinical Research Associate
- Specialist Trainee in Ophthalmology, Oxford deanery
Samantha's background is in clinical ophthalmology and she is currently a specialist registrar at the Oxford Eye hospital with a subspecialist interest in medical retina disorders. Her research aims to develop gene therapy for patients with end-stage retinal degenerations. These conditions such as retinitis pigmentosa affect about 1 in 3000 people with a significant proportion having extensive visual loss and blindness.
As a Wellcome Trust funded research fellow in the groups of Professor Robert MacLaren and Professor Mark Hankins, Samantha is investigating the role of optogenetics in gene therapy. This aims to make residual cells in the degenerate retina light-sensitive which could potentially restore visual function.
She has numerous accolades for this work including several prizes, and was also profiled in an article on gene therapy careers in Nature.
LINKS
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BBC Radio Interview by 'The Naked Scientists
https://www.thenakedscientists.com/articles/interviews/
gene-therapy-lets-blind-mice-see -
https://www.nature.com/naturejobs/science/articles/
10.1038/nj7502-651a - https://www.rsm.ac.uk/about-us/media-information/2014-media-releases/rsm-wesleyan-young-trainee-of-the-year-award-winner-announced.aspx
Research groups
Collaborators
Recent publications
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Tropism of engineered and evolved recombinant AAV serotypes in the rd1 mouse and ex vivo primate retina.
Journal article
Hickey DG. et al, (2017), Gene Ther, 24, 787 - 800
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Long-term restoration of visual function in end-stage retinal degeneration using subretinal human melanopsin gene therapy.
Journal article
De Silva SR. et al, (2017), Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A, 114, 11211 - 11216
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Single residue AAV capsid mutation improves transduction of photoreceptors in the Abca4-/- mouse and bipolar cells in the rd1 mouse and human retina ex vivo.
Journal article
De Silva SR. et al, (2016), Gene Ther, 23, 767 - 774
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Idiopathic choroidal neovascularisation in pregnancy: treatment options and a successful outcome.
Journal article
De Silva SR. et al, (2016), BMJ Case Rep, 2016
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Early treatment of acute submacular haemorrhage secondary to wet AMD using intravitreal tissue plasminogen activator, C3F8, and an anti-VEGF agent.
Journal article
de Silva SR. and Bindra MS., (2016), Eye (Lond), 30, 952 - 957