Eye News June 2014
NEWS | HONORS, AWARDS & GRANTS | PHILANTHROPY | PRESS | RECENT PUBLICATIONS | CALENDAR
As you may know, this has been a busy time of year with several key leadership promotions in the Department. On July 1, Ankoor Shah will become the Director of Medical Student Education and Editor-in-Chief of the Digital Journal of Ophthalmology. We have enlisted Pat D’Amore as the new Director of the Howe Laboratory and Associate Chief for Basic and Translational Research at Mass. Eye and Ear, also effective July 1.
Janey Wiggs takes on the new role of Vice Chair for Clinical Research across the HMS Ophthalmology Department, and Eric Pierce is now Director of the Berman-Gund Laboratory at Mass. Eye and Ear. A heartfelt thank you to Simmons Lessell, Dick Masland, Carolyn Kloek for their dedication and continued commitment to our department. We are also very grateful to Eliot Berson for his seminal contributions over the years, and continue to work with him on transition plans.
My thanks to everyone who organized, sponsored, participated in or otherwise had fun (!) this past weekend at our three-day Annual Meeting/Alumni Reunion event. I hope all of you had a chance to catch up with colleagues and enjoy the array of great lectures and posters presented by our faculty, trainees and alumni. A special thank you to our team of organizers who once again worked their magic to pull this event together — annual meeting co-directors, Ula Jurkunas and Lucia Sobrin, and our alumni reunion team headed by Director of Alumni, Joe Rizzo with key contributions from Kate Grzesiuk, Nan Wetherhorn, and Nardos Abbay.
Thanks as well to Roberto Pineda who delivered a terrific Mariana Mead Lecture, and to all of our speakers who presented over the weekend. I also want to congratulate and thank Ted Dryja and Al Sommer—recipients of our 2nd Annual Distinguished Research and Clinical Achievement Awards―both of whom delivered inspiring lectures on Saturday. Once again the Department’s poster competition boasted a diverse field of entries (51 posters in all) and many impressive submissions. Click here for our winning entries.
Still to come on June 26th is the Department’s Residents and Clinical Fellows Graduation, which will be held in Meltzer Auditorium at 4:00pm. Graduating research fellows from Schepens and Mass. Eye and Ear were honored in a separate recognition ceremony on June 6th.
Best wishes for a happy and safe summer!
Joan W. Miller, MD, FARVO
Henry Willard Williams Professor of Ophthalmology
Chair, Department of Ophthalmology, Harvard Medical School
Chief of Ophthalmology, Massachusetts Eye and Ear and
Massachusetts General Hospital
HMS Ophthalmology News
New Policy: Core Facilities Charge “Internal” Fees between Mass. Eye and Ear and MGH
Both Mass. Eye and Ear and Massachusetts General Hospital have core facilities that support research at their respective institutions. The research communities of these separate institutions have had a long history of scientific collaboration. In an effort to encourage further collaborations and promote even closer scientific ties, a new policy has been instituted, which will charge users from both institutions their “internal” fees for services, waiving any additional overhead or surcharges for external users. While busy facilities may need to prioritize their work in favor of users from their "home" institution, every effort will be made to accommodate users from the "other" institution as well.
- Mass. Eye and Ear cores: http://www.masseyeandear.org/research-new/core-facilities/
- MGH cores: http://www.partners.org/researchcores/home_mgh.asp
Mass. Eye and Ear will have its first Clinical Learning Environment Review (CLER) Site Visitconducted by the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) from Tuesday, July 8 through Wednesday, July 9. The ACGME accredits five residency and fellowship programs, including the HMS Ophthalmology Residency Training Program. The site visit will be held only at Mass. Eye and Ear because it is the sponsoring institution.
Women’s Eye Health.org Launches Newsletter
Women’s Eye Health.org, an education and advocacy group that raises public awareness about women’s eye health, launched a new bi-annual newsletter this spring. The goal of the publication is to promote the WEH mission and outreach efforts, and to highlight the latest vision research on issues relating to women’s eye health. The first issue features dry eye disease and WEH chapter efforts in China. Congratulations toDong Feng Chen, Women’s Eye Health Chair, and Ilene Gipson, Women’s Eye Health Founder. For more information visit www.womenseyehealth.org.
Information Services Reorganization
Mike Ricci will assume the role of Chief Information Officer for all of Mass. Eye and Ear and Leo Hill will assume the role of Deputy CIO, while also retaining his current duties as Director of Research IT. Together, Mike and Leo have devised a new organizational structure designed to address a number of recent IT-related issues, including problems with backups, email, and inadequately communicated “push outs” of software updates and privacy tools.
HMS Faculty Updates
Appointments:
- Pablo Argüeso, Associate Professor of Ophthalmology, HMS
- Patricia D’Amore, Director, Howe Laboratory, Mass. Eye and Ear; Associate Chief for Basic and Translational Research, Mass. Eye and Ear
- Eric Pierce, Director of the Berman-Gund Laboratory for the Study of Retinal Degenerations and Director of the Electroretinography Service, Mass. Eye and Ear
- Roberto Pineda II, Associate Director, Office of Global Surgery and Health, Mass. Eye and Ear; Distinguished Scholar in Ophthalmology, Mass. Eye and Ear
- Ankoor Shah, Director of Ophthalmic Medical Student Education, HMS; Editor-in-Chief, Digital Journal of Ophthalmology, Mass. Eye and Ear
- Rebecca Stacy, Assistant Professor of Ophthalmology and Instructor in Pathology, HMS
- Janey Wiggs, Vice Chair for Clinical Research, HMS Ophthalmology
Departures:
- Peter Bex will leave Mass. Eye and Ear/Schepens on July 31st to pursue a new opportunity at Northeastern University. Peter earned his PhD in Vision Science from Cardiff University, UK, in 1994 followed by post-doctoral research positions at McGill University in Montreal and at the University of Rochester, NY. In 2000, he joined the faculty at the Institute of Ophthalmology in London, where his research helped shed new light on understanding visual processing and how it is impacted by aging and eye disease. Since joining Schepens seven years ago Peter and his laboratory members have continued this dynamic work using behavioral and computational techniques to study the disease process in age-related macular degeneration, glaucoma, and amblyopia. In recent years, Peter has collaborated with MaryLou Jackson and Louis Pasquale to apply his scientific expertise in clinical populations. A devoted teacher and mentor, Peter has mentored more than 30 trainees and post-doctoral faculty. We wish him the best in his future endeavors.
- Chris Nims is retiring after having served as Mass. Eye and Ear’s Library and Archives Director for 31 years. During her long tenure, she has supported many of our faculty and trainees and we are all very grateful for her dedication and service. We wish her a long, fruitful and happy retirement. Thank you Chris!
Honors, Awards & Grants
Members of the Berman-Gund Laboratory and Ocular Genomics Institute received renewed support from the Foundation Fighting Blindness for the “Retinitis Pigmentosa Research Center at the Berman-Gund Lab” in the amount of $2,500,000 over the next 5 years. Funded investigators include Eric Pierce (Center Director), Jason Comander, Basil Pawlyk, Michael Sandberg, and Luk Vandenberghe.
Eric Pierce has been selected to receive a Research to Prevent Blindness Nelson Trust Award for Retinitis Pigmentosa in the amount of $100,000.The award is designed to stimulate, strengthen, and promote exceptional research to improve the diagnosis and treatment of retinitis pigmentosa.
Research to Prevent Blindness has renewed the Department of Ophthalmology’s Unrestricted Grant for 2014 in the amount of $115,000. The grant is administered by Joan W. Miller.
The Carroll Center for the Blind and the Massachusetts Commission for the Blind selected Henry Apfelbaum to be inducted into the Carroll Society. The Carroll Awards recognize outstanding blind or visually impaired employees in the workforce and their employers throughout Massachusetts. Henry, who is a Research Associate in the laboratory of Eli Peli, was honored during a ceremony held June 5th at the Carroll Center for the Blind.
According to Thomson Reuters Science Citation Index Expanded®, François C. Delori and Robert H. Webb’s manuscript, “Maximum Permissible Exposures for Ocular Safety (ANSI 2000), with Emphasis on Ophthalmic Devices,” published in May 2007 in the Journal of the Optical Society of America A (JOSA A), is one the 15 most cited articles published by JOSA A in the last 10 years.
Claes Dohlman, Evangelos Gragoudas, Martine Jager, and Joan W. Miller were included in the 2014 “Power List” – a list of the 100 most influential people in ophthalmology, according to The Ophthalmologist.
Mike Gilmore has been selected to receive a Research to Prevent Blindness Research Sabbatical Award in the amount of $50,000. This sabbatical will enable Mike to spend time in world leading basic research laboratories to acquire new skills and insights in structural biology and biofilm engineering in order to inform the design of new inhibitors of drug-resistant bacteria.
John Miller was selected to receive the 12th Raymond R. Margherio Awardat the Retina Society 47th annual meeting being held September 11-14, in Philadelphia, PA. Currently a Vitreoretinal Fellow at Mass. Eye and Ear working with Demetrios Vavvas, Dr. Miller completed his ophthalmology residency at HMS in 2013. His presentation is entitled, “Iron Rescue of Deferoxamine Toxicity in Human RPE Cells.”
Eleftherios Paschalis was selected to receive this year’s Harvard Cornea Center of Excellence Fellowship―one of the Eleanor and Miles Shore 50th Anniversary Fellowships for Scholars in Medicine.
Retina Fellow Cynthia Qian has been awarded a CNIB EA Baker Fellowship in the amount of $25,000. The CNIB Baker Applied Research Fund supports research that is focused on the social, educational, cultural and rehabilitative needs of Canadians living with vision loss, and the application of assistive devices to meet these needs.
Marie-Claude Robert, KPro Cornea Fellow, has been awarded the Suzanne Veronneau-Troutman Prize for postgraduate studies in ophthalmology for research to be carried out in Boston and Montreal. In addition she has received three more awards for further studies: the Fonds de Recherche du Québec en Santé (Québec Health Research Funds) scholarship, the Centre Hospitalier de l’Université de Montréal Recruitment scholarship, and the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada Detweiler travelling fellowship. She also recently passed the American Board of Ophthalmology, with the grade of 100th percentile!
Paolo Silva was named the recipient of the 2014 Outstanding Young Scientist Award from the National Academy of Science and Technology in the Philippines. The award comes with a cash prize and research funding of approximately $12,000. Paolo will be using this money to fund the development of Joslin/Beetham Eye Institute’s overseas reading center, including space allocation and training of image graders. The center will work with our Joslin/BEI Reading Center on novel advanced imaging grading protocols for prediction of future visual acuity and diabetic retinopathy progression.
Jennifer Sun was recently awarded a research grant from the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation for her project entitled, “Molecular and Anatomic Biomarkers of Vision and Response to AntiVEGF in Eyes with Diabetes.” The grant was funded in the amount of $981,934 over three years. Other individuals who contributed effort to this grant include: Edward Feener, Paolo Silva, Ann Kopple, Hanna Kwak, Michael Cheney, Jan Lammer, Nivetha Murugesan and Lloyd Paul Aiello.
The Department’s 2014 Annual Meeting poster competition boasted a diverse field of entries and many impressive submissions. Clinical posters winners are first-year resident, Mi In (Irene) Roh for her entry,“Long-term Anti-VEGF Therapy for Neovascular Age-related Macular Degeneration: Prognostic Factors, Treatment Benefit and Outcome,” and Mary Whitman, Clinical Fellow in Ophthalmology (Children’s) for her poster, “Bifocals Fail to Improve Clinical Outcomes in High AC/A Accommodative Esotropia.” Research poster winners are Sumit Bhattacharya, Research Fellow in Ophthalmology (Schepens) for his poster, “Alteration in Cell Structure and Function in the Lacrimal Glands of Thrombospodin-1/-Mouse Model of Sjogren’s Syndrome,” and Kinga Bujakowska, Research Fellow in Ophthalmology for his entry, “Mutations in IFT172 Case Isolated and Syndromic Retinal Degeneration. Congratulations to our winners!
Philanthropy
A gift of $50,000 from The Butler Foundation for the Compassionate Care Fund for Genetic Screening
A gift of $30,000 from Robert D’Amato and Janey Wiggs for a fellowship in glaucoma research
A gift of $25,000 from an anonymous donor for optic nerve regeneration research by Dr. Dong Feng Chen
A gift of $25,000 from Annette and Dan Nova for cornea research by Dr. James Chodosh
Press
Device Focus Swept-Source OCT and Glaucoma: April 2014 (EyeWorld Magazine) A technology being investigated for use in posterior segment imaging may have a role in glaucoma diagnosis; Lucy Shen offers her expert opinion.
Chemist Turns Software Developer after Son's Cancer Diagnosis (Part 1): May 6, 2014 (NPR) and Faith Drives a Father to Create a Test for RB (Part 2): May 7, 2014 (NPR) The segments, which aired on theMorning Edition, feature the parents of Shizuo Mukai’s Mass. Eye and Ear patient. Dr. Mukai is collaborating with the family to create software that can help diagnose retinoblastoma from digital photos, and he appears in the second segment.
Autologous Serum Tears Shown To Improve Corneal Pain: May 7, 2014 (Ocular Surgery News) Patients with chronic pain from corneal neuropathy showed significant improvement with the use of 20 percent autologous serum tears, as reported in a poster by Pedram Hamrah, Shruti Aggarwal and colleagues at the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology meeting.
Glaucoma Risks Underestimated by Ophthalmologists, Trainees: May 7, 2014 (Medscape) Ophthalmology trainees and comprehensive ophthalmologists who participated in an Internet-based multinational study to assess optic discs were about twice as likely to underestimate as to overestimate the likelihood of glaucoma, according to an article published online April 3 in JAMA Ophthalmology. Brian Songis quoted.
Is It Normal to Get Blurred Vision When Exercising? May 12, 2014 (Boston Globe) Matthew Gardineranswers this question in the Health & Wellness section.
'Glasses Off' App Claims to Retrain Brain to See Better: May 23, 2014 (WBZ-TV Channel 4) Peter Bextalks to Dr. Mallika Marshall, WBZ-TV News’ Medical Reporter, about a new iPhone and iPad app which claims to retrain the brain to see better and potentially eliminate the need for reading glasses brought by the natural aging process.
Recent Publications
(MAY 2014)
Alasil T, Wang K, Yu F, Field MG, Lee H, Baniasadi N, de Boer JF, Coleman AL, Chen TC. Correlation of retinal nerve fiber layer thickness and visual fields in glaucoma: A broken stick model. American Journal of Ophthalmology – 2014 May
Arnoldner MA, Kheirkhah A, Jakobiec FA, Durand ML, Hamrah P. Successful treatment of Paecilomyces lilacinus keratitis with oral posaconazole. Cornea – 2014 May 22
Awh CC, Lane AM, Hawken S, Zanke B, Kim IK. Author reply. Ophthalmology – 2014 May 1
Bitrian E, Song BJ, Caprioli J. Bleb revision for resolution of hypotony maculopathy following primary, trabeculectomy. American Journal of Ophthalmology – 2014 May 27
Brodowska K, Al-Moujahed A, Marmalidou A, Meyer Zu Horste M, Cichy J, Miller JW, Gragoudas E,Vavvas DG. The clinically used photosensitizer Verteporfin (VP) inhibits YAP-TEAD and human retinoblastoma cell growth in vitro without light activation. Experimental Eye Research – 2014 May 15
Campbell AA, Cunnane ME, Dunn GP, Gray ST, Lefebvre DR. Spontaneous resorption of a penetrating orbital bone fracture fragment. Ophthalmic Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery – 2014 May 14
Cattaneo Z, Lega C, Gardelli C, Merabet LB, Cela-Conde C, Nadal M. The role of prefrontal and parietal cortices in esthetic appreciation of representational and abstract art: A TMS study. NeuroImage – 2014 May 21
Chan CY, Papakostas TD, Vavvas D. Evaluation of choroidal thickness among patients with oculocutaneous albinism. British Journal of Ophthalmology – 2014 May 9
Chen L, Kim IK, Lane AM, Gauthier D, Munzenrider JE, Gragoudas ES, Miller JW. Proton beam irradiation for non-AMD CNV: 2-year results of a randomised clinical trial. British Journal of Ophthalmology – 2014 May 12
Chi M, Kim HJ, Basham R, Yoon MK, Vagefi R, Kersten RC. Temporal artery calciphylaxis presenting as temporal arteritis in a case of rhinoorbitocerebral mucormycosis. Ophthalmic Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery – 2014 May 21
Connors EC, Chrastil ER, Sánchez J, Merabet LB. Virtual environments for the transfer of navigation skills in the blind: A comparison of directed instruction vs. video game based learning approaches Frontiers in Neuroscience – 2014 May 1
Crnej A, Omoto M, Dohlman TH, Graney J, Dohlman CH, Drnovsek-Olup B, Dana R. A novel murine model for keratoprosthesis. Investigative Ophthalmology & Visual Science 2014 – May 15
Ding J, Sullivan DA. The effects of insulin-like growth factor 1 and growth hormone on human meibomian gland epithelial cells. JAMA Ophthalmology – 2014 May 1
Faez S, Lobo AM, Sobrin L, Papaliodis GN. Treatment of seronegative spondyloarthropathy-associated uveitis with golimumab: Retrospective case series. Clinical & Experimental Ophthalmology – 2014 May
Gonzalez-Saldivar G, Lee NG, Chodosh J, Freitag SK, Stacy RC. Dacryops in the setting of a Boston Type II Keratoprosthesis. Ophthalmic Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery – 2014 May-Jun
Grob S, Yonekawa Y, Eliott D. Multimodal imaging of adult-onset foveomacular vitelliform dystrophy. Saudi Journal of Ophthalmology – 2014
Harrison WJ, Bex PJ. Integrating retinotopic features in spatiotopic coordinates. The Journal of Neuroscience – 2014 May
Jakobiec FA, Rai R, Yoon MK. Fibrous histiocytoma of the tarsus: Clinical and immunohistochemical observations with a differential diagnosis. Cornea – 2014
Kang JH, Wiggs JL, Pasquale LR. Relation between time spent outdoors and exfoliation glaucoma or exfoliation glaucoma suspect. American Journal of Ophthalmology – 2014 May 20
Karamichos D, Hutcheon AE, Zieske JD. Reversal of fibrosis by TGF-β3 in a 3D in vitro model.Experimental Eye Research – 2014 May 4
Lee H, Schlereth SL, Park EY, Emami-Naeini P, Chauhan SK, Dana R. A novel pro-angiogenic function for interferon-γ-secreting natural killer cells. Investigative Ophthalmology & Visual Science – 2014 May
Lin YB, Gardiner MF. Fingernail-induced corneal abrasions: Case series from an ophthalmology emergency department. Cornea – 2014 May 14
Liu Y, Kam WR, Ding J, Sullivan DA. Impact of azithromycin on lipid accumulation in immortalized human meibomian gland epithelial cells. JAMA Ophthalmology – 2014 February
Liu Y, Kam WR, Ding J, Sullivan DA. One man's poison is another man's meat: Using azithromycin-induced phospholipidosis to promote ocular surface health. Toxicology – 2014
Matsumoto H, Murakami Y, Kataoka K, Lin H, Connor KM, Miller JW, Zhou D, Avruch J, Vavvas DG.Mammalian STE20-like kinase 2, not kinase 1, mediates photoreceptor cell death during retinal detachment.Cell Death Disease – 2014 May 29
Matsumoto H, Kataoka K, Tsoka PA, Connor KM, Miller JW, Vavvas DG. Strain difference in photoreceptor cell death after retinal detachment in mice. Investigative Ophthalmology & Visual Science – 2014 May 22
Miller JW. The Harvard angiogenesis story. Survey of Ophthalmology – 2014 May-Jun
Nguyen J, Fay A, Yadav P, Macintosh PW, Metson R. Stereotactic microdebrider in deep lateral orbital decompression for patients with thyroid eye disease. Ophthalmic Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery – 2014 May-Jun
Orbach DB, Vanderveen DK, Shah AS, Rodriguez-Galindo C. Blue toe syndrome: A complication of intra-arterial technique, not intra-arterial chemotherapy for retinoblastoma. JAMA Ophthalmology – 2014 May
Ousler GW 3rd, Abelson MB, Johnston PR, Rodriguez J, Lane K, Smith LM. Blink patterns and lid-contact times in dry-eye and normal subjects. Clinical Ophthalmology – 2014 May
Owen LA, Morrison MA, Ahn J, Woo SJ, Sato H, Robinson R, Morgan DJ, Zacharaki F, Simeonova M, Uehara H, Chakravarthy U, Hogg RE, Ambati BK, Kotoula M, Baehr W, Haider NB, Silvestri G, Miller JW, Tsironi EE, Farrer LA, Kim IK, Park KH, Deangelis MM. FLT1 Genetic variation predisposes to neovascular AMD in ethnically diverse populations and alters systemic FLT1expression. Investigative Ophthalmology & Visual Science – 2014 May 8
Pemberton JD, Macintosh PW, Zeglam A, Fay A. Naphazoline as a confounder in the diagnosis of carotid artery dissection. Ophthalmic Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery – 2014 May 6
Pennock S, Haddock LJ, Eliott D, Mukai S, Kazlauskas A. Is neutralizing vitreal growth factors a viable strategy to prevent proliferative vitreoretinopathy? Progress in Retinal and Eye Research 2014 – May
Saint-Geniez M, Ghelfi E, Liang X, Yu C, Spencer C, Abend S, Hotamisligil G, Cataltepe S. Fatty acid binding protein 4 deficiency protects against oxygen-induced retinopathy in mice. PLoS One – 2014 May
Silva PS, Diala PA, Hamam RN, Arrigg PG, Shah ST, Murtha TL, Schlossman DK, Cavallerano JD, Sun JK, Aiello LP. Visual outcomes from pars plana vitrectomy versus combined pars plana vitrectomy, phacoemulsification, and intraocular lens implantation in patients with diabetes. Retina – 2014 May 14
Singer JM, Kreiman G. Short temporal asynchrony disrupts visual object recognition. Journal of Visualized Experiments – 2014 May 12
Sobrin L, Seddon JM. Nature and nurture- genes and environment- predict onset and progression of macular degeneration. Prog Retin Eye Res – 2014 May
Sullivan DA, Liu Y, Kam WR, Ding J, Green KM, Shaffer SR, Hatton MP, Liu S. Serum-induced differentiation of human meibomian gland epithelial cells. Investigative Ophthalmology & Visual Science –2014 May 27
Thanos A, Jakobiec FA, Mendoza PR, Hatton MP. Ectopic (choristomatous) orbital respiratory cyst: Histopathology and immunohistochemistry. Survey of Ophthalmology – 2014 May-Jun
Truong TN, Li H, Hong YK, Chen L. Novel characterization and live imaging of Schlemm's canal expressing Prox-1. PLoS One – 2014 May 14
Ulmer Carnes M, Liu YP, Allingham RR, Whigham BT, Havens S, Garrett ME, Qiao C; NEIGHBORHOOD Consortium Investigators, Katsanis N, Wiggs JL, Pasquale LR, Ashley-Koch A, Oh EC, Hauser MA.Discovery and functional annotation of SIX6 variants in primary open-angle glaucoma. PLoS Genetics – 2014 May
Weis B, Schmidt J, Maamar H, Raj A, Lin H, Tóth C, Riedmann K, Raddatz G, Seitz HK, Ho AD, Lyko F, Linhart HG. Inhibition of intestinal tumor formation by deletion of the DNA methyltransferase 3a. Oncogene – 2014 May 19
Yonekawa Y, Hacker HD, Lehman RE, Beal CJ, Veldman PB, Vyas NM, Shah AS, Wu D, Eliott D, Gardiner MF, Kuperwaser MC, Rosa RH Jr, Ramsey JE, Miller JW, Mazzoli RA, Lawrence MG, Arroyo JG. Ocular blast injuries in mass-casualty incidents: The marathon bombing in Boston, Massachusetts, and the fertilizer plant explosion in West, Texas. Ophthalmology – 2014 May 16
Yonekawa Y, Kim IK, Gragoudas ES, Njauw CN, Tsao H, Jakobiec FA, Stacy RC. Aggressive skull base metastasis from uveal melanoma: A clinicopathologic study. European Journal of Ophthalmology – 2014 May