Department of Optometry and Vision Sciences represents at international conference
16 representatives from the Department of Optometry and Vision Sciences (DOVS) attended the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology (ARVO) annual meeting in Seattle, Washington, USA this May.
The ARVO conference was attended by a record breaking 11,000 attendees from 61 countries worldwide, including basic, preclinical and clinical researchers (students, academics, optometrists, ophthalmologists) and exhibitors. Across the six days, the DOVS team showcased an impressive array of research to our international peers, making a significant impact on the global stage, including gene therapy in inherited retinal diseases, retinitis pigmentosa, glaucoma and optic nerve sheath pressure, ocular biomarkers in Parkinson’s disease, multimodal imaging, functional dynamic imaging of corneal immune cells, functional tomography angiography, and eyecare for dementia.
Weaving between presenting groundbreaking research, they attended symposia and paper/poster presentations to learn about new findings in various areas of vision research, and novel developments of technologies, therapies and approaches.
For the seasoned researchers who return every year, ARVO serves as a cornerstone event and a familiar gathering where insights are exchanged and collaborations are forged. For many DOVS researchers this was an opportunity to reconnect with friends and colleagues around the world, enriching academic exchange with camaraderie. One of our PhD students, Yaashwini Richard, experienced ARVO for the first time to present her work on ocular biomarkers in Parkinson’s disease. Another milestone within the department was early career researcher Dr Mengliang Wu delivering a captivating talk in the Vice President mini symposium session of next-gen researchers in ocular immunology, highlighting the importance for shaping the trajectory of evaluating corneal immune cell behaviour.
Congratulations to the DOVS members presenting at the ARVO conference (in order of presentation):
Paper presentations:
- A/Prof Christine Nguyen "Retinal hyperspectral imaging in mouse models of Parkinson's disease and healthy aging"
- Dr Mengliang Wu "Fun In Vivo Confocal Microscopy (Fun-IVCM): A dynamic intravital imaging technique for evaluating corneal immune cell behaviour in living humans" (vice-president session)
- Dr Mengliang Wu "Altered in vivo dynamics of corneal intraepithelial T cells and changes to corneal sensory nerves in HIV-positive individuals"
- A/Prof Lauren Ayton "Attitudes to gene therapy for the eye: a global survey"
- Dr Carol Lakkis "End-of-day assessment of tear film biomarkers in asymptomatic versus highly symptomatic soft lens wearers"
- Dr Carol Lakkis "Improving comfort in contact lens wearers"
Poster presentations
- Yaashwini LSS Richard "Multimodal Retinal Imaging in a Tau KO mouse model of PD"
- A/Prof Christine Nguyen "Multicolor imaging changes with retinal depth and healthy aging"
- Prof Laura Downie "Intravital imaging of the human cornea: Fun-IVCM reveals different effects of season on innate and adaptive immune cell morphodynamics"
- Dr Ceecee Britten-Jones "Interocular progression in retinitis pigmentosa: A 10-year follow-up study"
- Sujan Surendran "Audit of inherited retinal disease prevalence in an Australian multidisciplinary ocular genetics clinic"
- Dr Vickie Wong "Levodopa rescues retinal function in the transgenic hA53T Alpha-Synuclein Model of Parkinson's disease"
- Dr Pei Ying Lee "Investigating test-retest reliability of different fixation locations in directional optical coherence tomography"
- Dr Flora Hui "Functional tomography angiography: a non-invasive, clinical stress test targeting vascular regulation in the retina"
- Prof Bang Bui "Optic nerve sheath pressure lowering exacerbates the effect of acute and chronic IOP elevation in rats"
- Sena Gocuk "Natural progression of chroidermia carriers using multimodal imaging: a longitudinal study"
- Dr Marianne Coleman "Improving the eye test experience for people living with dementia"
