Why eyes become myopic or short-sighted? Understanding changes in the periphery of the eye during normal and abnormal (e.g., myopic) eye growth.
Christine Wildsoet, Professor
Optometry
Closed. This professor is continuing with Spring 2024 apprentices on this project; no new apprentices needed for Fall 2024.
Myopia or short-sightedness has become the focus of increasing concern as its prevalence steadily climbs. Figures of around 90% have been recorded for some Asian university student populations and a recent US-based study also reported a dramatic increase in the prevalence of myopia, especially among AfroAmericans. Myopia is a problem of the eye growing too long for its optical power, with a typical onset around adolescence. The posterior vitreous chamber of the eye is the site of this growth and in its extreme, it carries an increased risk of retinal detachment and other complications that may lead to blindness. Treatments are urgently needed to prevent myopia and/or slow its progression, but these are only possible with a better understanding of how eyes grow and myopia develops. There is now little doubt that the increasing prevalence of myopia is a consequence of environmental factors.
Work with animal models offer the most promise of developing successful treatments. In particular the rapid development of the eye in chickens enables us to perform shorter term experiments that can inform more complex longitudinal experiments in humans. Our lab has a long and successful history of introducing optical manipulations and measuring eye growth responses to these manipulations. The results based on such controlled experiments have widely informed the field of myopia and emerging treatment modalities. However questions remain as to how normal eye growth happens in the periphery of the chick eye. In an on-going project, we are following the natural growth of the chick eye and comparing the relative progress of eye growth at the center and at peripheral quadrants. This is clinically relevant project since many myopia therapies are being designed to offer different optical zones for center and periphery. Chick experiments for this project are conducted in vivo, using established optical techniques such as retinoscopy. Student apprentices should have interest in handling live chickens as well as in learning simple instrumentation techniques. Ability to use Microsoft Excel will be very helpful for data analysis. No specific subject-matter background is necessary, but any laboratory research interest and familiarity is essential. Apprentices should expect to be involved in all aspects of our lab's research, including lab maintenance and monitoring of animals, as well as tasks specific to their individual project. Data analysis is a component of most projects (e.g. ultrasonography data).
Mentoring: Students are often paired with more senior undergraduate students and in this case you will be working directly under a clinician scientist for your project work. As principal investigator, I see my role as helping students learn about scientific methodology, to improve their critical analysis skills, to equip them with some new hands-on skills, and perhaps most importantly, to foster their interest and enthusiasm for research.
Role: Students will be involved in this research at a level commensurate with their previous experience and knowledge. As they become more familiar with the techniques used in their assigned project, received appropriate training as necessary and have demonstrated competence, they can expected to be more engaged at a hands-on level.
Qualifications: Majors in any life sciences - either basic (e.g: MCB) or application oriented (Bioengineering) generally make good fits with these projects. Sophomore and juniors are generally targeted, to allow time for initial training and subsequent active hands-on engagement in research, which is more rewarding for everyone.
Day-to-day supervisor for this project: Dr Sowmya Ravikumar, Staff Researcher
Hours: to be negotiated
Related website: http://wildsoetlab.berkeley.edu/