Visiting Lecturers
Lecture Series Speakers 2024
"Microglia, Monocytes, and Muller cells at the onset of photoreceptor degeneration"
December 11, 2024
University of California, Davis
"Unveiling Molecular Factors of Ocular Carotenoid and Retinoid Homeostasis."
November 13, 2024
Case Western Reserve University
"From a cone-specific visual cycle to preventing retinal degeneration"
October 9, 2024
University of California, Irvine
"Oxidative Stress: A common mechanism and therapeutic target for optic neuropathies"
September 11, 2024
Vanderbilt University
"Relationships between active flow area, it's related morphology, and outflow facility/intraocular pressure"
August 15, 2024
Boston University
"Genetic and cellular defects in keratoconus"
July 17, 2024
New York University
"Transcription factor/chromatin interactions controlling retinal ganglion cell genesis."
University at Buffalo, SUNY
"Waters at the Heart of Vision: how water movement in opsins allows phototransduction to be studied in rods and cones in vivo."
University of California, Davis
"Dissecting the pathways for visual chromophore biosynthesis."
University of California, Irvine
"Disrupting the ciliary gradient of active Arl3 affects rod photoreceptor nuclear migration."
University of Michigan
Lecture Series Speakers 2023
"The rod/cone gap junction: the first electrical synapse of the visual system."
University of Houston
"Mechanobiology and IOP Homeostasis in Glaucoma."
Georgia Institute of Technology
"Neuronal and Vascular Dysfunction in Glaucoma: New Insights."
University of Montreal
"Contrast sensitivity and asymmetries in the optokinetic reflex originate in retinal direction
selective ganglion cells."
University of California, San Francisco
"Uncovering shared pathobiological drivers in multiple forms of retinal degeneration."
University of Florida
"Low-cost portable optical coherence tomography for point of care use."
Duke University
Lecture Series Speakers 2022
"Melanopsin from Molecule to Behavior."
University of Maryland Baltimore County
"Hydroxycarboxylic acid receptor 2 and immunometabolism in the diabetic retina."
The Medical College of Georgia at Augusta University
"Imagine that twinkle in your eye: Adaptive optics imaging of single neurons, glia and
blood cells in the living retina."
University of Rochester
"Intrinsic risk factors of dry eye disease: learning about the microbiome and aging in
animal models."
Baylor University
"Neuroinflammation during and after photoreceptor degeneration."
University of California, Davis
"AI, AO, and other ophthalmic imaging projects with fun acronyms."
Duke University
Lecture Series Speakers 2021
"Live imaging the optic nerve to understand axon degeneration and regeneration."
University of California, Davis
"New Insights into Diabetic Retinopathy and Blood Retinal Barrier Disruption."
Cleveland Clinic
"Inside out: Relationships between the gut microbiome, metabolism and diabetic retinopathy."
University of Alabama at Birmingham
"Pumping iron: the role of iron induced oxidative stress, ferroptosis, and neuroinflammation in retinal disease."
University of Pennsylvania
"New concepts of AMD pathophysiology and retinal neuroscience arising from histologically validated clinical imaging"
University of Alabama at Birmingham
"Microglia - a key regulator of neurovascular spatial patterning."
Harvard Medical School
"fMRI of Pain-Related Processing in the trigeminal System and Photophobia."
Boston Children's Hospital
Harvard Medical School Teaching Hospital
Lecture Series Speakers 2020
"Novel Approaches for Inducing Regeneration of the Injured Retina"
March 11, 2020
University of Miami
Lecture Series Speakers 2019
"Mechanisms of Blood-Brain Barrier Development, Breakdown, and Repair in the CNS"
March 15, 2019
Columbia University
"Retinal Exosomes in Development and Disease"
June 12, 2019
Lehman College, CUNY
"Fibrillinopathy and Elastosis in Glaucoma"
July 17, 2019
Vanderbilt University
"Insights gained from advances in Glaucoma"
September 9, 2019
Mount Sinai
"Molecular organization of the first visual synapse"
September 20, 2019
Scripps Research Institute
"Modifying Outflow: The Future of Glaucoma Therapies"
November 8, 2019
Duke University
"Genetic Causes of and Treatments for Inherited Retinal Degenerations"
December 11, 2019
Harvard University
Lecture Series Speakers 2018
"Sleep number of bacteria: Effects of material stiffness on bacterial attachment and biofilm formation"
February 15, 2018
Syracuse University
"Childhood glaucoma genetics"
April 18, 2018
University of Wisconsin
"Preserving vascular health to prevent neurodegeneration"
June 8, 2018
The Jackson Laboratory
"Matching therapy to disease mechanism: Targeting the mitochondria to treat age-related macular degeneration"
July 11, 2018
Deborah Ferrington, PhD
University of Minnesota
"Held up at the starting line: Regulating the trafficking of HCN1 channels"
October 10, 2018
University of Iowa
"Regulation of patterning and morphogenesis of the developing eye"
December 10, 2018
Vanderbilt University
Lecture Series Speakers 2017
"Sensory integration in retinal ganglion cells: what does the mouse retina tell the mouse brain?"
January 11, 2017
University of Utah
"Release at ribbon synapses of rods and cones in the vertebrate retina"
February 8, 2017
University of Nebraska
"Illuminating the developmental origins of neuronal diversity through cis-regulatory analysis"
March 8, 2017
City College of New York
"Nanoparticle-based gene therapy for ocular disease"
May 17, 2017
University of Houston
"Retbindin's role in retinal homeostasis"
May 18, 2017
University of Houston
"Of mice and men: Targeting pathways in precision medicine"
June 14, 2017
Columbia University
"Chemistry of vision and inherited retinal diseases"
September 13, 2017
UC Irvine
"Retinopathy of prematurity: Associated unsuspected choroidopathy"
September 18, 2017
Chu Sainte-Justine
"Rationale for mitochondrial dysfunction in dry AMD: Prospects for mitochondria-targeted therapies"
October 11, 2017
Duke University
Lecture Series Speakers 2016
"ER chaperones and the UPR in the retina and retinal disease"
February 10, 2016
University at Buffalo
"Molecular mechanisms for the development of retinal ganglion cells"
March 9, 2016
University of Rochester
"Seeing double: Regulation of tandemly-duplicated opsins in the zebrafish"
April 13, 2016
University of Idaho
"Architecture and signaling at the first retinal synapse"
May 11, 2016
University of Louisville
"Notch signaling during sensory cell development in the inner ear"
May 20, 2016
University of Rochester
"The cell biology of pathological protein accumulation in corneal scarring and glaucoma"
June 8, 2016
SUNY Upstate Medical University
"Neurospheres to planar sheets: Engineering a co-culture of retinal progenitors and RPE"
June 24, 2016
Yale School of Medicine
"Timing is everything: molecular mechanisms of photoreceptor outer segment renewal"
September 14, 2016
Fordham University
"Planar cell polarity in retinal development"
October 12, 2016
University of Pittsburgh
"Optic nerve regeneration: Oncomodulin, peten, zinc, and other actors"
October 21, 2016
Boston Childrens Hospital
"Epigenetic regulation of retinal development"
December 14, 2016
University of Pittsburgh
Lecture Series Speakers 2015
"Decoding the intrinsic molecular mechanisms underlying successful optic axon regeneration"
December 9, 2015
Albany
"Synaptic mechanisms for visual computation in retinal circuitry"
November 11, 2015
Yale University
Ophthalmology and Visual Science
"Roles for the optic nerve head in compartmentalizing the embryonic mouse eye"
October 21, 2015
UC Davis
"Congenital stationary night blindness: Three simple mutants and their complex outcomes"
September 9, 2015
University of Louisville
Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences
"NMDA receptors rule: from the tectum to the shin"
June 10, 2015
Department of Physiology and Biophysics
Jacobs School of Medicine & Biomedical Sciences
"Light induced hypersensitivity in mice and men, a nights' tale"
May 13, 2015
School of Optometry
University of Alabama at Birmingham
Robert B. Barlow Twelfth Distinguished Lecture in Vision
Claude Desplan, PhD
New York University
Director, Center for Developmental Genetics
Lecture Title: Processing of Color Information in Drosophila
Lecture Date: October 19, 2012
Robert B. Barlow Eleventh Distinguished Lecture in Vision
Samuel Miao-Sin Wu, PhD
Cullen Eye Institute
Baylor College of Medicine
Lecture Title: Rod and Cone Signaling Pathways in Normal, Mutant and Diseased Retinas
Lecture Date: October 17, 2011
Robert B. Barlow Tenth Distinguished Lecture in Vision
Gregory S. Hageman, PhD
The University of Utah School of Medicine
John A. Moran Eye Center
Director, John A. Moran Center for Translational Research
John A. Moran Presidential Professor of Ophthalmology
Lecture Title: A New Era in Our Understanding of Age-related Macular Degeneration
Lecture Held: October 7, 2010
Ninth Distinguished Lecture in Vision
Robert S. Molday, PhD
The University of British Columbia
Canada Research Chair in Vision and Macular Degeneration
Fellow, Royal Society of Canada
Professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology
Professor of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences
Director, Centre for Macular Research
Lecture Title: Pathogenic Mechanisms and Gene Therapy for Inherited Retinal Degenerative Diseases
Lecture Held: March 8, 2008
Eighth Distinguished Lecture in Vision
Constance L. Cepko, PhD
Harvard Medical School
Department of Genetics and
Howard Hughes Medical Institute
Lecture Title: Determination of Retinal Cell Fates
Lecture Held: October 19, 2007
Seventh Distinguished Lecture in Vision
Thaddeus P. Dryja, MD
Director, Cogan Eye Pathology Laboratory
Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary
Lecture Title: Hereditary Photoreceptor Diseases
Lecture Held: Friday, March 10, 2006
Sixth Distinguished Lecture in Vision
David H. Hubel, MD, PhD
1981 Winner of the Nobel Prize in Medicine or Physiology
Research Professor of Neurobiology
Harvard University
Lecture Title: Vision and Brain: Possible Physiological Basis for Some Common Illusions
Lecture held: Friday, April 1, 2005
Fifth Distinguished Lecture in Vision
Paul A. Sieving, MD, PhD
Director of the National Eye Institute
Bethesda, Maryland
Lecture Title: Night Blindness and the State of Rod Photo Receptors in Retinitis Pigmentosa
Lecture held: Tuesday, March 2, 2004
Fourth Distinguished Lecture in Vision
Debora B. Farber, PhD, DPhhc
Professor of Ophthalmology
Associate Director of the Jules Stein Eye Institute, and Co-Chief of the Vision Science Division
Lecture Title: From Mouse to Man: Characterization and Regulation of Genes Causing Retinal Degeneration
Lecture held: Tuesday, April 16, 2002
Third Distinguished Lecture in Vision
Jeremy H. Nathans, MD, PhD
Professor of Molecular Biology & Genetics
Johns Hopkins School of Medicine
Lecture Title: Molecular Biology of Visual Pigments
Lecture held: Monday, March 26, 2001
Second Distinguished Lecture in Vision
John E. Dowling, PhD
Harvard College Professor and
Maria Moors Cabot Professor of Natural Science
Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology
Harvard University
Lecture Title: Searching for Visual System Mutations in Zebrafish
Lecture held: Friday, March 3, 2000
First Distinguished Lecture in Vision
Torsten N. Wiesel, MD, FRS
1981 Nobel Laureate, Torsten N. Wiesel, MD, FRS visited Syracuse on March 4, 1999. Dr. Wiesel is President Emeritus and Director of the Shelby White and Leon Levy Center for Mind, Brain and Behavior at Rockefeller University. He is also an Advisory Board Member for the University Center for Vision Research.
Robert B. Barlow, Ph.D., of University Center for Vision Research hosted Dr. Wiesel's lecture entitled, "Brain Mechanisms of Vision." Dr. Barlow described Dr. Wiesel as a "hero" and "a most outstanding role model for young scientists."
After his lecture, which was standing room only in the Alumni Auditorium of Weiskotten Hall, Dr. Wiesel was guest of honor at an exclusive lunch. Exceptional neuroscience graduate students, and program candidates lucky enough to be touring the S.U.N.Y. Upstate Medical University's campus that day, were invited to attend. The group enjoyed this unique opportunity to talk openly with a renowned researcher. One student said of Dr. Wiesel, "Not only is he a great scientist, he's such a nice person."
Dr. Wiesel rounded out his visit with an informal meeting with the vision scientists of University Center for Vision Research.