SCIENTISTS from two North-East universities have joined forces to set up the first national centre for age-related eye problems.

The Centre for Age-Related Eye Research will be known as NorthEast Care.

It will bring together scientists, researchers and NHS staff from across the region, older people with visual problems and those who support them.

The centre, which will operate from existing buildings in the North-East health sector, will be the only one in the UK dedicated to research on diseases, including cataract, glaucoma and macular degeneration.

NorthEast Care will research and develop new treatments, preventative measures and technologies to help people with visual problems.

Research will also focus on the use of stem cells to repair damage to the surface of the eye. Another project will examine ways in which age-related diseases of the brain can impair visual functions.

Mike Clarke, co-director of NorthEast Care and reader in ophthalmology at Newcastle University, said: "Over 250,000 cataract removals are performed in the UK each year. Despite the huge impact of these and other visual disorders on the quality of life of older people, there are few centres devoted to the ageing eye and NorthEast Care is addressing this deficiency.

"For example, our recent work indicates that abnormal accumulation of a protein in the retina causes macular degeneration, and has opened the prospect of new treatments for this condition."

Professor Roy Quinlan from Durham University and co-director of NorthEast Care said: "The mixture of molecular and cell biologists, vision neuroscientists, experts in the field of ageing, and clinicians which the centre will bring together is exactly what is required to tackle these complex problems."