Current Projects
Outstanding students are currently sought for the following projects:
Health Services Research Unit
Visual field loss and falls |
The HSRU is interested in investigating the gait-related risk factors and extent of injury resulting from falls in people with glaucoma and visual field loss |
The development of a Diabetic Retinopathy-specific quality of life questionnaire |
The HSRU is interested in developing and validating a questionnaire which will measure the impact of vision-threatening Diabetic Retinopathy on quality of life in patients with diabetes. |
Medication adherence in patients with glaucoma |
The HSRU is currently collecting data to improve its understanding of intentional and non-intentional non adherence to glaucoma medication. A PhD project will build on these findings to design, implement and evaluate a RCT to improve medication adherence in patients with glaucoma. |
Blood glucose, blood pressure and lipids in people with Diabetes |
A PHD student is needed to investigate the barriers to effective management of blood glucose, blood pressure and lipids in people with diabetes and diabetic retinopathy. Another PhD candidate is required to work on a RCT assessing the effectiveness of a novel self-management program on the management of diabetic retinopathy. |
Glaucoma Unit
- Age-related mitochondrial dysfunction in glaucoma
- p38 Map Kinase and neurogeneration of the optic nerve
- In-vivo imaging of injured retinal ganglion cells in mouse glaucoma models
- Amyloid precursor protein processing in glaucoma - This project will study the impact of neuronal stressors on APP processing and the impact on mitochondrial function in cultured retinal ganglion cells and mouse glaucoma models.
- In-vivo of sick retirnal ganglion cells in the living mouse retina - This study will use nanotechnology and fluorescent probes to identify and quantify neuronal stress in retinal ganglion cells in a mouse glaucoma model.
- Impact of fluid biomechanics on wound fibrosis - This study in collaboration with the Department of Bioengineering will assess the impact of tissue beiomechanics on the wound healing response after ocular surgery.
RetVIC Unit
High-order properties of the retinal vascular structure and risk of cardiovascular diseases |
A PhD student is needed to investigate a potential clinical application of high-order properties of the retinal vascular structure, such as vessel bifurcation/branching angle, vessel tortuosities or fractal dimensions, to predict risk of cardiovascular diseases as well as eye diseases, using multiple sets of population-based study data. |
Novel genetic determinants of the retinal vascular structures |
A PhD student is needed to explore novel genetic determinants of the retinal vessel structures, such as vessel calibres or vessel tortuosities. RetVIC will provide a large sample data set including genotype data from the study samples. |
Dynamic retinal vessel assessment and retinal vacular structures |
A PhD student is needed to investigate pathophysiological aspects of retinal blood flow and retinal vascular structure in relation to systemic and ocular conditions, using dynamic retinal vessel assessment. |
A practice model for screening/ prevention of cardiovascular risks and cardiovascular disease using retinal photography |
Recent evidence shows that retinal vessel signs have a strong link to cardiovascular risk factors and events. RetVIC is exploring the predictive value of retinal vessel signs on cardiovascular risks. A Master student is needed to pilot the translation of those research findings into a practice model for screening and prevention of cardiovascular disease. Subsequent to the success of the pilot study, a large scaled clinical trial is anticipated, which can be PhD projects on assessing the effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of this model. |
Macular Research Unit
- The bionic eye. An opportunity exists to work on animal models of eye disease and the development of the bionic eye for humans. It would involve electrophysiological testing of the prosthesis.
- Biomarkers in AMD. An opportunity to work on proteomic analysis of serum and urine in cases of Age related macular degeneration to look for biomarkers of this disease
- Determinants of outcome in treatments of AMD, both genetic and inflammatory markers and their role in determining the outcomes to treatments.
Ocular Genetics Unit
Basic and clinical based projects using a wide array of collected patient samples including case controls, twins, families and population based are available for study.
Gene environment studies in age related macular degeneration (AMD)
- Role of inflammatory genes and AMD
- Role of nutrition/obesity in AMD
- Biomarker and genetic studies in AMD
- Identification of disease genes in myopia (short sightedness)
- Gene function studies in myopia
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