The Open Ophthalmology Journal

G. Astrid Limb is a Professor of Retinal Stem Cell Biology and Therapeutics at the UCL Institute of Ophthalmology. Her early postdoctoral work at St Thomas’s Hospital in London highlighted the contribution of pro-inflammatory cytokines to the pathogenesis of retinal inflammatory diseases and led to the publication of highly cited papers in the field. She joined the UCL Institute of Ophthalmology in 1998, where her group was the first to identify the presence of Müller glia with stem cell characteristics in the adult human eye. Her present research is focused on the application of Müller stem cells to cell replacement therapies in various retinal degenerative conditions, including glaucoma, as well as molecular and cellular mechanisms that may be potentially targeted in vivo to promote endogenous regeneration of the retina.

Professor Sanjoy K. Bhattacharya received his Ph.D. degree from the Indian Institute of Technology, India. He is currently performing the role of Professor of Ophthalmology at Bascom Palmer Eye Institute, University of Miami, Miami, FL, USA. Before joining this institute, he performed services at CaseWestern Reserve University, Cleveland, OH, USA, and ClevelandClinic Foundation, Cleveland, OH, USA. Prof. Bhattacharya has a wide background in proteomics, biochemistry, and vision research, with particular training and expertise in the application of proteomic and lipidomic methods in amblyopia research. He is involved in the publication of more than 125 articles in various journals.

Dr. Cideciyan’s primary research interests involve understanding of disease mechanisms in human hereditary retinal degenerations and evaluation of mechanism-specific treatments in these blinding conditions. This is accomplished by the use of non-invasive surrogate measures of biochemical and morphological abnormalities of the retina and the RPE. Knowledge obtained from human retinopathies is also used to glean molecular foundations of normal human vision. Furthermore, studies performed in parallel with non-invasive experimental methods in animal models of these human diseases are used to determine the correspondence between the models and the patients, and pre-clinical therapeutic strategies are tested as appropriate.

Dr. Andrzej Grzybowski, M.D., Ph.D., M.B.A., is a Professor of Ophthalmology, and Chair of the Department of Ophthalmology, at University of Warmia and Mazury, Olsztyn, Poland. In addition, Dr. Grzybowski is Head of the Institute for Research in Ophthalmology, Foundation for Ophthalmology Development, Poznan, Poland, and Visiting Professor at Zhongshan Ophthalmic Center (ZOC) of Sun Yat-sen University, Zhongshan, China. He became lifelong member (chair LIV) of the European Academy of Ophthalmology (http://www.eao.eu) and its Treasurer. Dr. Grzybowski has been an active editor and editor-in-chief, and is an author/co-author of more than 350 peer-reviewed international publications, and reviewer of more than 20 journals.

Dr. Alexander V. Ljubimov is Professor of Biomedical Sciences and Neurosurgery, Director of Eye Program of Regenerative Medicine Institute at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, and UCLA Professor of Medicine. He authored over 100 papers and is on Editorial Boards of 10 journals. He is a member of Royal Society of Medicine and International Society for Eye Research, and Gold Fellow of the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology. Dr. Ljubimov works in diabetic retinopathy and cancer nanotechnology. He pioneered gene therapy for diabetic corneas, discovered angiogenic role of protein kinase CK2, and is also developing targeted nanosystems for cancer treatment.

Degree in Optics and Optometry by the University of Alicante (1998) and Degree in Information and Documentation by the Open University of Catalonia (2006). He obtained his PhD Degree in the University of Alicante in 2010 with the doctoral thesis entiled “Characterization and modeling of the effect of the intrastromal ring segments de in ectatic corneas”. Likewise, he obtained the qualification of University Specialist in Pre- and Post-surgical Optometry by the University of Valladolid in 2001. Currently, he is professor/researcher at the Department of Optics, Pharmacology and Anatomy of the University of Alicante, and develops his clinical activity at the Department of Ophthalmology of the Vithas Medimar International Hospital (Alicante, Spain).

Minoru Tomita M.D, PhD is a Director of Minoru Tomita Eye Clinic Ginza in Tokyo, Japan. He has been visiting professor at Ophthalmology, Wenzhou Medical University and Hebei Provincial Eye Hospital in China. He is also an Editorial member of Journal of Refractive Surgery, BMC Ophthalmology and several other journals. He has received numerous awards from International Congress and has provided over 100 papers in famous review journal and magazine.

Professor Usha Andley received her Ph.D. degree in Biochemistry in 1977 from Jawaharlal Nehru University India. Since 2002, Prof. Andley is a member of Division of Biology and Biomedical Sciences, Washington University, St. Louis, MO, and she is Professor of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences at the same university. Her major research interest is in the function of chaperone proteins in cataract. Dr. Andley has studied the biochemical mechanism of cataract formation in her lab. Dr. Andley has also been a reviewer and consultant for various organizations. Furthermore, she has been involved in the publication of more than 95 articles in various international journals.

Dr. John Chang was trained in Ophthalmology at Jules Stein Eye Institute UCLA; he then went to UCSF for fellowship. He is the President of International Society of Refractive Surgery in 2018. Dr. Chang is Honorary Associate Professor of The University of Hong Kong and the Chinese University of Hong Kong. Dr. Chang is presently the Director of the Guy Hugh Chan Refractive Surgery Centre of Hong Kong Sanatorium & Hospital and was interested in Cataract and Refractive Surgery. He is Clinical Instructor for various refractive implants and surgeries including LASIK, Intra Corneal ring, Conductive Keratoplasty, Phakic Intraocular Lens and Phacoemulsification.

Tailoi Chan-Ling is Professor of Neurobiology & Visual Science at the University of Sydney. She has made a sustained contribution to the understanding of the cellular processes and molecular cues that drive formation of blood vessels in the retina and choroid during normal development, aging and in disease. She has an ongoing interest in Glial, neuronal and vascular interactions during development of the human retina. Studies have focused on the pathogenetic processes in retinopathy of prematurity (ROP), age-related macular degeneration (AMD), glaucoma, cerebral malaria, and optic neuritis with a recent studies in RPE biology and pathology.

George D. Kymionis is Professor and anterior segment head at Jules Gonin Eye Hospital at University of Lausanne in Switzerland. His clinical work focuses on diseases and surgery of the cornea having done the first endothelium transplant (DMEK) in Greece and the first worldwide first bilateral pediatric DSAEK after penetrating keratoplasty. He has first described new techniques, as the procedure of combining PTK (with or without PRK) and corneal cross-linking (Cretan Protocol and Cretan Protocol plus). His research work consists of 278 published papers (284 in scopus), 27 book chapters, 4693 citations (h-index 37), 36 awards and 7 multicenter studies.

Dr. Anat Loewenstein is by profession a MD, Full Professor of Ophthalmology, Vice Dean of the Faculty of Medicine, and Sidney Fox Chair of Ophthalmology at the Sackler Faculty of Medicine, Tel Aviv University and the Chairman of the Department of Ophthalmology at the Tel Aviv Medical Center.  Dr. Loewenstein Studied medicine at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem.

Dr. Gail M. Seigel is a Research Associate Professor at the State University of New York at Buffalo. Dr. Seigel's primary research focus is the study of cancer stem cells and chemoresistance in retinoblastoma. A graduate of Rutgers University (B.S.), and Albany Medical College (Ph.D.), Dr. Seigel joined the SUNY Buffalo faculty in 2001. Dr. Seigel has authored over 75 manuscripts and has received a Cybil Harrington Research.

Dr. Italo Giuffre is a Consultant at the Department of Ophthalmology (Head: Prof. A. Caporossi) - Catholic University of Rome (Italy) since 2009 and Lecturer at the Orthoptics School in Bozen (Italy). He graduated as a Medical Doctor (cum laude) from Tor Vergata University in 1988. In 2001, he became PhD in Neuropaediatrics and malformative diseases at Sapienza University (Head: Prof. G.P. Cantore). His publications include one book about Genetics of Eye diseases, INC Editor 2000, 5 chapters in international books (about ibopamine, apoptosis, tumorigenesis and genetics of glaucoma) and over 90 articles in peer-reviewed journals.