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by Samuel Verdin, Editorial Coordinator, Eye News.
We were recently ‘daan saaf’ in England for the wonderfully scientific and long-standing Oxford Ophthalmological Congress for their 107th year! Founding in 1909 by Robert W Doyne, the congress is guided by the following ethos:
"[The Congress is] for the cultivation of the spirit of good fellowship and of unconventionality, the right of our youngest member to rank with his oldest colleague, and last, but assuredly not least, the frank, free and tolerant discussion of scientific matters brought before its gathering."
Not only did we meet lots of new delegates and industry figures, we also managed to catch up with regular contributors and friends of the magazine, such as Rosalyn Painter (and partner David!), Evelyn Mensah, Alfie Lee and David Haider, to name a few. Full details and insights from each day of the Congress can be discovered through the QR codes below, but some of our highlights from the event were:
The Rapid Fire Sessions, which kicked off the Tuesday morning with a fully stocked line-up of speakers, chaired by Professor Rachel Pilling. Each speaker had three minutes to deliver their presentation, followed by two minutes for questions. To give you a sense of what was presented, Rishi Ramessur (London) kicked off the sessions, discussing ‘Posterior capsular rupture in cataract surgery: A multivariate analysis of risk factors’, covering a 10-year capture of results and trends. Age was not an identified risk factor; PCR rates are similar to national standards; and further research into ethnic variations might help to guide PCR strategies. Max Jackson (Liverpool) delivered his talk on ‘Using deep learning to aid in the differentiation of uveal melanoma from a naevus’. After giving a brief overview of uveal melanoma (UM) and naevi, Max delivered his study aims, an important one of which was to aid in the earlier detection of UM. In his results, he declared an incredible 90% accuracy in UM detection with scope for improvement.
The Doyne Lecture always took place on the Tuesday, ‘Gene therapy treatments for retinal diseases’, delivered by Robert MacLaren, Professor of Ophthalmology at the University of Oxford and Consultant Vitreoretinal Surgeon at the Oxford Eye Hospital. Aside from his long list of achievements, Robert led the world's first use of a remotely controlled robot to operate successfully inside the eye in 2016. Introducing, and presenting the Doyne Medal, was James Talks.
After introducing the life and accolades of Robert W Doyne (1857–1916), founder of both the Oxford Eye Hospital and the Oxford Ophthalmological Congress, Robert MacLaren entered the subject of his lecture by exploring the journeys of certain DNA mutations within Europe, and how these have affected certain gene expressions over time and travelling back about 13 million years.
“Moving into the current stage, I’m talking about gene therapy [and] now I can talk about it as a treatment as opposed to a hope for the future,” began Robert, as he examined newly discovered genes and in particular, blindness due to Choroideremia, for which gene therapy can be applied.
Robert went on to discuss gene therapy surgery, reducing retinal stretch, OCT-guided sub-retinal gene therapy surgery, surgical considerations in patients, a selection of trials, commercial viability and efficacy, PRECEYES robotic setup in the operating room, robot / human comparisons, X-linked retinitis pigmentosa, retinal regeneration and ‘red ring sign’ following gene therapy, and concluded on ophthalmology research updates in Oxford. After his lecture, Robert was of course presented with the Doyne Medal, given to him by James Talks.
There is never going to be a way of fitting everything into one report, so we urge you to check out the QR codes below for more details on what took place. For now, we would like to thank Louise, Sharon and their team for putting together such a wonderful meeting; also the New Theatre and Town Hall venues and staff for taking good care of us all; the industry, as always, for making this whole thing possible; you, the delegates and speakers – it’s your research, experience and skillsets that ensure these conferences are hubs for education and opportunity; and last but not least, James Talks, OOC Master, and the society for curating many of the sessions we’ve enjoyed and for helping steer this great Congress into the success it continues to be.
Save the date for next year’s congress: 7–9 July 2025, 108th Oxford Ophthalmological Congress.
If you want to check out our daily coverage of the Congress, check out the following links: Day 1, Day 2 and Day 3.
