Congratulations to Dr Mitchell Nye-Wood who was awarded the $1,000 ThermoFisher consumables grant for the best elevator pitch at the FMHS Postdoctoral Society’s inaugural SUMMIT research meeting on 28 June. This event was held to showcase the research and excellence of FMHS Research Fellows and Senior Research Fellows. The half-day conference style event attracted more than 60 attendees from the faculty. The guest speaker was David Cameron, educator, founder of LearnCOACH and 2018 Young New Zealander of the year.
Dr Nye-Wood spoke about how his current project, the Presbyopia Study, has used MRI of the eye to observe how the internal contents of the lens change with age in a way that never has before. The normally smooth gradient in “refractive index” inside the lens becomes steeper, and flatter. Computer modelling of vision through this lens shows how it is less powerful, and explains the need for reading glasses in middle age.