This year’s Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology (ARVO) meeting was held in Honolulu, Hawaii 29 April – 3 May. SOVS researchers presented a variety of topics in both poster and paper sessions.
- Dr Andrew Collins discussed how correcting incorrect responses during a vision assessment allowed adults to become more familiar with the shape of small-sized letters. This results in better measured levels of vision.
- Dr Joanna Black’s work assessed the repeatability of four different techniques (alternating prism cover test, von Graefe, Howell card and Maddox rod) to measure heterophoria and its implications for clinical practice. Heterophoria is the resting position of the eyes when they are closed.
- Dr Lily Chang’s poster compared the repeatability of and agreement between the standard letter chart and two objective methods for measuring vision. The objective methods are optokinetic nystagmus (OKN) and sweep visually evoked potential (VEP). OKN is an involuntary eye movement that occurs when looking at moving patterns, while sweep VEP is an electrical signal that gets sent from the eye to the brain in response to seeing visual patterns.
- Dr Mitchell Nye-Wood gave a talk about using MRI to investigate the size, shape, and internal water/protein concentrations of the eye’s lens during near focusing (accommodation), and how it changes with the age-related loss of near focusing ability called presbyopia.
- PhD candidate Myra Leung presented her work investigating the effects of high blood sugar levels on the shape and size of eyes and vision in children born very preterm.
- PhD candidate Alyssa Lie described how protein distribution in the eye’s lens changes with age. The highest protein concentration is found in the centre of the lens in youth but with older age it is found in the front of the lens. This causes the lens to lose power and contributes to an increase in far-sightedness with older age.
In addition, Associate Professor Sam Schwarzkopf and PhD candidate Rebecca Findlay also represented SOVS at the meeting.
Congratulations to Drs Mitchell Nye-Wood and Lily Chang for being awarded an ARVO Travel Grant for this year’s conference.
Image; From left: Dr Jo Black, Rebecca Findlay, Dr Andrew Collins, Dr Stuti Misra, Myra Leung, A/P Sam Schwarzkopf, Dr Mitchell Nye-Wood, Alyssa Lie, Dr Lily Chang