Dear VPO Attendees, this is a kind reminder that the final deadline to submit your abstracts is June 14th. The Organizing Committee is also pleased to announce that prof. Susana Marcos from Univ. Rochester joins the group of Invited Speakers for VPO26!
Below please find the titles and brief summaries of all the keynotes to be delivered by the excellent VPO26 Invited Speakers
Adrian Podoleanu (Univ. of Kent, UK) Coherence gating in high-resolution imaging of the eye
This lecture traces the evolution of en-face optical coherence tomography (OCT) and introduces the Leader–Follower (LF) coherence-gating method. By bypassing conventional A-scan assembly, the LF protocol enables real-time en-face slicing at very high sweep speeds. The talk also presents the integration of LF with Shack–Hartmann coherence gating for depth-resolved aberration assessment and layer-specific correction.
José Manuel Alonso (State University of New York, USA) Myopia and the visual brain
Visual information reaches the brain through two parallel pathways that extract light and dark features from a scene. Known as ON and OFF, these pathways arise at the very first synapse of the visual system and are so highly conserved across evolution that their importance is unmistakable. Our work shows that ON and OFF pathways differ in spatiotemporal resolution and contrast sensitivity, and that they respond differently to light intensity, optical defocus, and myopia—a now-epidemic condition that blurs distance vision.
Larry N. Thibos (Indiana Univ., USA) Weber’s forgotten second law of vision and the origins of acuity perimetry
Weber’s 1846 law of visual sensitivity is a familiar principle, but his most original idea was that spatially extended stimuli are sampled by a discrete array of neural “sensory circles,” or receptive fields. Weber recognized that this sampling imposes a theoretical limit on spatial acuity, captured in his law of two-point resolution: two points appear separate only if they excite different sensors with at least one relatively unstimulated sensor between them. The story of how this second law was lost and then rediscovered by successive generations reveals the surprisingly chaotic way science advances.
Pablo Artal (Univ. of Murcia, Spain) Two-photon infrared vision: from nonlinear optics to visual perception
This lecture explores two-photon infrared vision, in which pulsed near-infrared light becomes visible through nonlinear interactions in the retina. After reviewing the underlying principles, it surveys recent advances in characterizing visual sensitivity, spatial resolution, and color perception. The talk also compares one- and two-photon vision, examines the effect of adaptive-optics correction, and considers potential applications in ophthalmic instrumentation.
Sergio Barbero (CSIC, Madrid, Spain) Why and how did a visual optics community form in Spain during the mid-twentieth century?
In the 1920s, amid urban development and the cultural movement known as regeneracionismo, a coordinated effort coalesced around the Revista Española de Óptica, led by civil and industrial engineers, military technicians, and opticians. Despite the rupture of the Civil War and the autarkic constraints of early Francoism, this fertile ground gave rise to an epistemic community centered on visual optics through the 1940s and 1950s.
Fuensanta A. Vera-Diaz (New England College of Optometry, USA) The effect of optical quality and accommodation on myopia development
Emmetropization depends on retinal image content, yet the optical and accommodative signals that precede myopia remain unclear. Pediatric studies have linked higher-order aberrations (HOAs) and accommodation to myopia inconsistently, and greater HOAs may sometimes protect rather than harm. In the PICNIC study, children at high risk for myopia—and those who went on to develop it—showed lower, less positive spherical aberration and more negative peripheral defocus. High-risk children also showed weaker accommodative responses, largely explained by baseline refractive error. Together, the findings point to altered peripheral defocus, aspherical aberration, and the coupling of blur perception with accommodation as risk factors for myopia.
Susana Marcos (Center for Visual Science, Univ. of Rochester, USA) Mechanisms and modulation of myopia: optical cues, molecular signaling, and scleral biomechanics
This talk examines how myopia develops through the interplay of retinal signaling, accommodation, and scleral remodeling. Drawing on adaptive optics, advanced imaging, and transgenic models, it describes how optical factors shape retinal blur, and presents novel pharmacological and light-activated interventions that modulate tissue mechanics to slow axial elongation.
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.