Theme A, Session 1: Optic Nerve Regeneration in the Age of Omics and Big Data Analytics

 

Session Moderators:

Kevin Park, PhD, Associate Professor, Department of Neurological Surgery, Miami Project to Cure Paralysis, University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, FL, USA

Abigail Hackam, PhD, Professor of Ophthalmology, Bascom Palmer Eye Institute, University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, FL, USA

Session Speakers:

Feng-Quan Zhou, Ph.D. Professor, Department of Orthopaedic Surgery and Neuroscience, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, MD, USA

Title of Talk: TBA

Yi-Lan Weng, Ph.D. Assistant Professor, Department of Neurosurgery, Houston Methodist Research Institute, TX, USA

Title of Talk: TBA

Ava J. Udvadia, Ph.D. Associate Professor, Department of Biological Sciences, University of Wisconsin, WI, USA

Title of Talk: TBA

Romani Cartoni, Ph.D. Assistant Professor, Department of Pharmacology and Cancer Biology, Duke University School of Medicine, NC, USA

Title of Talk: TBA

Two speakers will be selected by the abstract selection committee from open submissions.

Theme A, Session 2: Regulatory Guidance in Regenerative Medicine in Ophthalmology: A comparison across countries

Session Moderators:

Cheryl L. Rowe-Rendleman, PhD, CEO and Founder, Omar Consultants 

Onkar B. Sawant, PhD, Director of Research & Innovations, Eversight

 

Session Speakers:

Jeffrey Goldberg, MD, PhD, Professor and Chair, Department of Ophthalmology, Stanford University, Palo Alto, CA

Tentative Title of Talk: “Regenerating the Eye: Corneal Cell Therapy with Magnetic Nanoparticle Delivery”

Ula Jurkunas, MD, Associate Professor, Massachusetts Eye and Ear, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA

Title of Talk: “CALEC – Cell therapy for Limbal stem cell deficiency”

Dr. Naoki Okumura, MD, PhD, Professor, Graduate School of Life and Medical Science, Doshisha University, Kyoto, Japan

Tentative Title of Talk: “RhoKinase Inhibitors assisted Cell Therapy for treatment of Corneal Endothelial Dystrophies”

Suzanne Thornton-Jones, PhD, Chief Regulatory and Compliance Officer, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania

Tentative Title of Talk: “How to tackle FDA hurdles – Guidance to bring therapy from Bench to Bedside”

Two speakers (preferably on retinal or RPE regeneration) will be selected by the abstract selection committee from open submissions.

Theme A, Session 3: Novel Therapeutic Drugs and Devices for Glaucoma Treatment

Session Moderators:

Najam Sharif, PhD, DSc., Santen Inc USA, Emeryville, CA.

Sunny Ohia, PhD, Professor of Pharmacology, College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences, Texas Southern University, Houston, TX.

Session Speakers:

Mitch DeLong, PhD, Vice President, Dept. Chemistry, Aerie Pharmaceuticals Inc, Raleigh-Durham, NC.  

Title of Talk: ”Netarsudil: Recent developments”

Najam Sharif, PhD, DSc, Vice President, GAER, Santen Inc USA, Emeryville, CA.  

Title of Talk: “Omidenepag Isopropyl : a novel non-prostaglandin EP2-receptor agonist anti-glaucoma drug”

Sunny Ohia, PhD, Professor of Pharmacology, College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences, Texas Southern University, Houston, TX.

Title of Talk: “Hydrogen sulfide and glaucoma pharmacotherapy- new vistas”

Len Pinchuk, PhD, Vice President, Santen Inc USA, Miami.

Title of Talk: “The Effect of Mitomycin C used Intraoperatively with the PRESERFLO^® MicroShunt on Long-Term Outcomes”

 

Two speakers will be selected by the sbstract selection committee from open submissions.

Theme B, Session 4: Retinal neuroprotection, plasticity and regeneration: where we are

Session Moderators:

Filippo Drago, MD/PhD, Professor, Professor of Pharmacology at the University of Catania, Italy

Vittorio Porciatti, DSc, Professor, School of Medicine, University of Miami, Miami, USA

Session Speakers:

Rebecca L. Pfeiffer University of Utah School of Medicine, Salt Lake City, USA

Title of the talk: Retinal regeneration, remodeling and plasticity

Heping Xu Queen’s University Belfast, UK

Title of the talk: Immune regulation of the aging retina

Valery Shestopalov, University of Miami, Miami, FL, USA

Title of the talk: Intraocular pressure, inflammasome and retinal ganglion cell death

Gianluca Romano (University of Catania, Italy)

 Title of the talk: Plasticity mechanisms in diabetic retinopathy

Two more speakers will be selected from the submitted abstracts.

Theme B, Session 5:  Visual Perception and Ocular Disorders

Session Moderators:

 

Dora Fix Ventura, PhD, FARVO, Department of Experimental Psychology, University of São Paulo, SP, Brazil

Malinda E. C. Fitzgerald, PhD, FARVO, Research consultant, University of TN Health Science Center, Memphis, TN, USA

Session Speakers:

Kallene Summer Vidal, M.D., PhD, Department of Experimental Psychology, University of São Paulo, SP, Brazil and Prevent Senior Institute, São Paulo, Brazil

Title of Talk: Visual functions and Alzheimer’s Disease

Mirella T. S. Barboni, PhD, Department of Ophthalmology, Sommelweiss University, Budapest, Hungary

Title of Talk: Visual functions and Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy

 

Givago S. Souza, PhD, Neuroscience Program, Federal University of Para, Belém, PA, Brazil

Title of Talk: Visual functions and Mercury Intoxication

Marcelo Fernandes da Costa, PhD Head of Department of Experimental Psychology, University of São Paulo, SP, Brazil

Title of Talk: Visual functions and ZIKA virus infection

Patricia M. Cisarik, O.D., Ph.D., Southern College of Optometry, Memphis, TN USA

Title of Talk:  Advances in clinical measurement of visual perceptions

One speaker will be selected by the abstract selection committee from open submissions.

 

Theme B, Session 6: Innovation imperative—changing Industry: science relationships

This session will be a panel discussion promoting an open dialogue around industry working with academia, translating science from bench to bedside and navigating legal/ IP issues along the way.

Session Moderators:

Kimberly Southern, Chief Executive Officer Glauconix Biosciences, New York

Barbara Wirostko MD, FARVO, Cofounder and Chief Medical Officer at Qlaris Bio, Weston, MA. Adjunct Professor of Ophthalmology and Biomedical Engineering at Moran Eye Center, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT.

 

Session Speakers:

Michael Fautsch PhD, Professor of Ophthalmology, Biochemistry & Molecular Biology and Research Chair for Ophthalmology at Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN.

Susan Orr OD, MBA, CEO and CMO of Claris Biotherapeutics, New Jersey.

Anthony Khawaja MA(Cantab) PhD FRCOphth, Associate Professor at the UCL Institute of Ophthalmology and Honorary Consultant Ophthalmic Surgeon at Moorfields Eye Hospital, London, UK.

One more speaker will be selected.

Theme C, Session 7: Student Round table

Objectives of the Round table:  “The Round table will engage in a conversation from the student/fellow/young faculty perspective about how to make science more inclusive, to develop an awareness of issues surrounding gender and racial bias in science and identify short and long-term solutions to increase diversity in science”.

Session Moderators:

Dorette Z. Ellis, PhD, Associate Professor, College of Pharmacy, UNTHSC, North Texas

Mildred M.G. Olivier, MD, BS, Professor of Ophthalmology and Assistant Dean at Chicago Medical School (CMS) of Rosalind Franklin University of Medicine and Science (RFUMS).

Theme C, Session 8: Degeneration and Regeneration of the Trabecular and Downstream Outflow Pathways

 

Session Moderators:

Carol Toris, PhD, Professor, University of Nebraska Medical Center, Omaha, Nebraska.

Padmanabhan Pattabiraman, PhD, Assistant Professor, Indiana University School of Medicine, Indianapolis.

Session Speakers:

Vasantha Rao, PhD, Professor, Duke Eye Center, Durham, North Carolina.  

Title of Talk: “TBA”

Avinash Soundararajan, PhD, Postdoc, Glick Eye Institute, Indiana University School of Medicine, Indianapolis.

Title of Talk: “TBA”

Gillian McLellan, PhD, BVMS, DACVO, DECVO, PHD, Associate Professor, Department of Surgical Sciences, University of Wisconsin- Madison, Madison.

Title of Talk: “TBA”

Kate Keller, PhD, Associate Professor of Ophthalmology, School of Medicine, Oregon Health Sciences University, Oregon.

Title of Talk: “TBA”

 

Two speakers will be selected by the abstract selection committee from open submissions.

Theme C, Session 9: Diabetic retinopathy: new pharmacological targets

 

Session Moderators:

Claudio Bucolo – University of Catania, Catania, Italy

Maria B Grant – University of Alabama, Birmingham, AL 

 

Session Speakers:

Julia Busik (Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI) – Title talk: Use of cyclodextrin for removal of retinal cholesterol crystals in diabetic retinopathy

Mei Chen (Queen’s University, Belfast, Northern Ireland, UK) – Title talk: Targeting IL1 pathway for the management of diabetic retinopathy”

Chiara B.M. Platania (University of Catania, Catania, Italy) – Title talk: Innovative approaches to identify new pharmacological targets for diabetic retinopathy

Maria B Grant MD (University of Alabama, Birmingham, AL) – Title talk: LXR agonist for treatment of diabetic retinopathy

 

Two speakers will be selected by the abstract selection committee from open submissions.

Theme C, Session 10: Mechanism and Therapeutics for Ocular Fibrosis

Session Moderators:

Shusheng Wang, PhD/MBA, Associate Professor, Department of Cell and Molecular Biology & Department of Ophthalmology, Tulane University

Heping Xu, MD/PhD, Professor, School of Medicine, Dentistry and Biomedical Sciences Centre for Experimental Medicine, Queen’s University, Belfast, UK

Session Speakers:

Mark Gillies, PhD, Professor, Director of Research, The University of Sydney, Save Sight Institute, Sidney, Australia

Title of Talk: ”Notch Signaling and Retinal Fibrosis”

Audrey Bernstein, PhD, Associate Professor, Ophthalmology & Visual Sciences, Biochemistry & Molecular Biology, and Cell & Developmental Biology, SUNY Upstate Medical University

Title of Talk: “Self-delivery siRNA to prevent ocular scaring”

Joana Galvao, PhD, Discovery Lab head, Roche Pharma Research & Early Development Innovation Centre, Basel, Switzerland

Title of Talk: “Novel Insights into the contributions of Fibroblast Growth Factor 2 in retinal angiogenesis and fibrosis”

Heping Xu, MD/PhD, Professor, School of Medicine, Dentistry and Biomedical Sciences Centre for Experimental Medicine, Queen’s University, Belfast, UK

Title of Talk: “The role of the complement system in retinal fibrosis”

Two more speakers will be selected from the submitted abstracts.

Theme C, Session 11: Novel therapeutic targeting for age-related macular degeneration – overcoming the challenging path to success

 

Session Moderators:

Goldis Malek, PhD, Associate Professor, Department of Ophthalmology and Department of Pathology, Duke University, Durham, North Carolina, USA

Aparna Lakkaraju, PhD, Associate Professor, Department of Ophthalmology, University of California, San Francisco, California, USA

 

Session Speakers:

Wai Wong, MD, PhD, Vice President Retinal Discovery at Janssen R&D, and Senior Investigator at NEI, Bethesda, Maryland, USA

Title of Talk: “Targeting retinal glia to regulate neuroinflammation in AMD therapeutics”

 

Louise Porter, PhD, FRCOphth, Scientist, University of Strasbourg, Alsace, France

Title of Talk: ”Common targets in the ageing RPE and in AMD”

Jennifer Chao, MD, PhD, Associate Professor and Vice Chair of Research, Department of Ophthalmology, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington, USA

Title of Talk: “Early Onset Macular Drusen: Loss-of-Function variant in CFH”

Mike (Przemyslaw) Sapieha, PhD, Professor in Translational Reserch and Professor of Ophthalmology, Biochemistry and Molecular Medicine, University of Montreal, Montreal, Canada

Title of Talk: “Targeting Senescent Vasculature in AMD”

Two speakers will be selected by the abstract selection committee from open submissions.

Theme D, Session 12: Update on ocular pharmacology research in China

Session Moderators:

Jay Ji-Ye Wei, MD/PhD, Professor, He University, China

Sylvie He, PhD, Partner, Hyfinity Investment Fund, Beijing, China

Session Speakers:

Colin J. Barnstable, PhD, Professor, Behavioral and neural science, Penn State University, USA; Ophthalmology, Tianjin Medical University, China  

Title of Talk: ”How an academic researcher to develop a drug candidate in China”

Joyce Tombran-Tink, PhD, Professor, Behavioral and neural science, Penn State University, USA; Ophthalmology, Tianjin Medical University, China

Title of Talk: “PEDF peptide for treatment of ocular diseases”

Sylvie He, PhD, Partner, Hyfinity Investment Fund, Beijing, China

Title of Talk: “Innovation and drug discovery of ophthalmic research in China”

Jay Ji-Ye Wei, MD/PhD, Professor, School of Medicine, He University, Shenyang, China

Title of Talk: “Gene therapy to treat ocular disorders in China”

Two speakers will be selected by the abstract selection committee from open submissions.

Theme D, Session 13: Ophthalmic Imaging Technologies and Biomarkers

Session Moderators:

Ashwath Jayagopal, Ph.D., Executive Director, Kodiak Sciences Inc., Palo Alto, CA USA

Imam Uddin, Ph.D., Assistant Professor, Vanderbilt Eye Institute, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, TN USA

Session Speakers:

Imam Uddin, PhD, Assistant Professor, Vanderbilt Eye Institute, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, TN USA

Title of Talk: A novel method to visualize mRNA to predict ocular angiogenesis

Jennifer Hunter, PhD, Associate Professor, University of Rochester Medical Center

Title of Talk: “Adaptive optics fluorescence lifetime ophthalmosopy ”

Nicolas Chateau, PhD, CEO, Imagine Eyes

Title of Talk: Adaptive optics imaging usable by clinicians

Yali Jia, PhD, Jennie P. Weeks Professor of Ophthalmology, Oregon Health & Science University

Title of Talk: “Visible-light OCT oximetry in retinal capillaries”

Two Speakers will be selected by the Abstract selection committee from open submissions.

Poster sessions

Three designated posters sessions are part of the program accommodating Themes A-D.

Session Modulators:

Daniel Pelaez, PhD, Assistant Professor, Bascom Palmer Eye Institute, University of Miami, Miami, USA

Juana Gallar, MD, PhD, Professor, Instituto de Neurociencias, Universidad Miguel Hernandez-CSIC, San Juan de Alicante, Spain