DOVS 2025 Seeing Beyond Lecture: Watching Ocular Immune Cells in Action
On Thursday, 27 March, the Department of Optometry and Vision Sciences hosted its first Seeing Beyond Lecture for 2025 at the Ian Potter Auditorium. The event, titled "Seeing Immunity Through the Eye", brought together staff, students, and industry guests for a compelling evening exploring the frontiers of immune cell imaging in the human eye.
On Thursday, 27 March, the Department of Optometry and Vision Sciences hosted its first Seeing Beyond Lecture for 2025 at the Ian Potter Auditorium. The event, titled "Seeing Immunity Through the Eye", brought together staff, students, and industry guests for a compelling evening exploring the frontiers of immune cell imaging in the human eye.
We were delighted to welcome Dr Phil Bedggood and Professor Laura Downie, who presented cutting-edge research into in vivo imaging techniques that are reshaping our understanding of ocular immunology.
Dr Bedggood’s presentation, "Non-invasive imaging of immune cell dynamics in the living human retina", highlighted the development of a new adaptive optics system capable of visualising motile immune cells at the vitreoretinal interface in unprecedented detail. This breakthrough allows researchers to track immune cell activity and behaviour in real time - offering significant implications for understanding disease mechanisms and the eye's immune environment.
Professor Downie’s talk, "Functional In Vivo Confocal Microscopy (Fun-IVCM) as a window to human corneal immune cells", showcased a newly developed technique that enables non-invasive visualisation of immune cells within the cornea. Her team’s recent discovery of adaptive T cells in the healthy human cornea (published in PNAS, 2023) represents a paradigm shift in how we understand immune surveillance at the ocular surface, with powerful implications for diagnosis and treatment monitoring.
The evening also marked the official launch of the Diabetes Eye Screening Investigation Clinic (DESIC), presented by Angela Hall. DESIC delivers best-practice diabetes eye care integrated within the Doctor of Optometry clinical teaching program. It also includes a research arm focused on improving understanding of diabetic eye disease and translating insights into better patient outcomes.
Thank you to everyone who attended and contributed to the success of the evening. We look forward to continuing these conversations in our upcoming events.