This Bioengineering Research Partnership is a consortium of 6 laboratories that are building adaptive optics scanning laser ophthalmoscopes (AOSLOs) and applying them to microscopic examination of the living normal and diseased retina. The principal investigator is David Williams (University of Rochester) who introduced the first successful adaptive optics instruments to vision science. Other lead investigators include: Steve Burns (Indiana University) an international leader in laser scanning ophthalmoscopy, John Flannery (UC, Berkeley) an expert in retinal degeneration and the development of retinal biomarkers, and Austin Roorda (UC, Berkeley) who designed the first adaptive optics scanning laser ophthalmoscopes, David Arathorn (Montana State University) who brings strong mathematical skills and software development tools for tracking the eye in AOSLOs, and R. Daniel Ferguson (Physical Sciences, Inc.) whose expertise is in the optical engineering of innovative eye tracking systems. During years 1-5 of the previous funding period, the partnership designed and built four AOSLO instruments and two more instruments are under construction. These devices have produced the first images ever of numerous microscopic structures in the living eye including the RPE cell mosaic, single leucocytes flowing in the smallest retinal capillaries, and fluorescently-labelled ganglion cell dendrites, axons and cell bodies. In addition, technical challenges for imaging eyes ranging in size from human to rodent have been overcome. The partnership is now proposing continued funding for years 6-10 to develop new capabilities for these instruments such as a combined hardware and software approach to reduce the effects of eye motion on high resolution retinal imagery. We also will develop a new generation of instruments with special capabilities, such as the ability to image ganglion cells in the living human eye without the use of fluorescent dyes, and the ability to optically record neural responses from specific retinal cells.

Public Health Relevance

This application will develop a technology, adaptive optics scanning laser ophthalmoscopy, for taking extremely sharp pictures of the inside of the living eye, so sharp that individual cells can be seen. This technology will be used to study diseases such as age-related macular degeneration and glaucoma. It may allow the earlier detection of retinal disease, better tracking of disease progression, and the efficacy of therapies for retinal disease.

Agency
National Institute of Health (NIH)
Institute
National Eye Institute (NEI)
Type
Research Project (R01)
Project #
5R01EY014375-07
Application #
7690888
Study Section
Special Emphasis Panel (ZRG1-BDCN-F (12))
Program Officer
Neuhold, Lisa
Project Start
2003-03-01
Project End
2013-08-31
Budget Start
2009-09-01
Budget End
2010-08-31
Support Year
7
Fiscal Year
2009
Total Cost
$1,019,499
Indirect Cost
Name
University of Rochester
Department
Miscellaneous
Type
Schools of Arts and Sciences
DUNS #
041294109
City
Rochester
State
NY
Country
United States
Zip Code
14627
Biswas, Pooja; Naeem, Muhammad Asif; Ali, Muhammad Hassaan et al. (2018) Whole-Exome Sequencing Identifies Novel Variants that Co-segregates with Autosomal Recessive Retinal Degeneration in a Pakistani Pedigree. Adv Exp Med Biol 1074:219-228
Song, Hongxin; Rossi, Ethan A; Stone, Edwin et al. (2018) Phenotypic diversity in autosomal-dominant cone-rod dystrophy elucidated by adaptive optics retinal imaging. Br J Ophthalmol 102:136-141
Granger, Charles E; Yang, Qiang; Song, Hongxin et al. (2018) Human Retinal Pigment Epithelium: In Vivo Cell Morphometry, Multispectral Autofluorescence, and Relationship to Cone Mosaic. Invest Ophthalmol Vis Sci 59:5705-5716
Sharma, Robin; Schwarz, Christina; Hunter, Jennifer J et al. (2017) Formation and Clearance of All-Trans-Retinol in Rods Investigated in the Living Primate Eye With Two-Photon Ophthalmoscopy. Invest Ophthalmol Vis Sci 58:604-613
Velaga, S B; Nittala, M G; Konduru, R K et al. (2017) Impact of optical coherence tomography scanning density on quantitative analyses in neovascular age-related macular degeneration. Eye (Lond) 31:53-61
Marcos, Susana; Werner, John S; Burns, Stephen A et al. (2017) Vision science and adaptive optics, the state of the field. Vision Res 132:3-33
Rossi, Ethan A; Granger, Charles E; Sharma, Robin et al. (2017) Imaging individual neurons in the retinal ganglion cell layer of the living eye. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 114:586-591
Stevenson, S B; Sheehy, C K; Roorda, A (2016) Binocular eye tracking with the Tracking Scanning Laser Ophthalmoscope. Vision Res 118:98-104
Sharma, Robin; Williams, David R; Palczewska, Grazyna et al. (2016) Two-Photon Autofluorescence Imaging Reveals Cellular Structures Throughout the Retina of the Living Primate Eye. Invest Ophthalmol Vis Sci 57:632-46
Sharma, Robin; Schwarz, Christina; Williams, David R et al. (2016) In Vivo Two-Photon Fluorescence Kinetics of Primate Rods and Cones. Invest Ophthalmol Vis Sci 57:647-57

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