Ageing lifestyle and neurorecovery in glaucoma

Host: Associate Professor Riccardo Natoli

Abstract

Vision loss from glaucoma is traditionally regarded irreversible. We have countered this notion with data in the mouse eye suggesting that early loss of neuronal function can be reversible. We have found that the capacity for recovery is tightly linked to animal age but can be modified by pharmacologic and lifestyle in interventions. We will also demonstrate that short-term improvement in retinal ganglion cell function can occur in human glaucoma and that this may provide a biomarker for testing candidate neuroprotectants in clinical trial.

Biography

Professor Jonathan Crowston is Professor of Ophthalmology at the University of Sydney, Director of the Save Sight Institute, and Glaucoma Consultant at the Royal Prince Alfred Hospital. Previously he was the ophthalmologist and clinician-scientist appointed as Professor of Ophthalmology at Duke/NUS. He was also the senior Glaucoma Consultant at the Singapore National Eye Centre where he managed tertiary referral care for patients with glaucoma and related optic neuropathies as well as providing consultant general on-call cover. He previously served as Head of Ophthalmology at the University of Melbourne and Managing Director of the Centre for Eye Research Australia.