Tom completed his studies in the UK with a focus on clostridia, a genus of bacteria of interest in gut homeostasis, drug delivery, biofuels and oncology. Following a long-standing collaboration with the University, he moved to Maastricht in 2018 to pursue research on intratumoural and intestinal delivery of vaccines and therapeutics.

Diseases of the corneal endothelium, such as Fuchs dystrophy, can be treated by corneal transplant. However, a severe shortage of donor tissue prevents many patients from receiving this treatment (there are 70 patients for every donor cornea). Tom’s project aims to create a regenerative therapy for treating corneal disease by culturing corneal endothelial cells from donor tissue or iPSCs. The project is a collaboration between the MERLN institute and the Department of Opthalmology at the MUMC+.