Technology News

Applied Genetic Technologies Corp. announced that it has entered into a strategic research and development collaboration with Bionic Sight.

The FDA has cleared the PLEX Elite 9000 for advanced retina research, Carl Zeiss Meditec announced in a press release.

In the cover story of this issue of OSN, we explore ophthalmologist-entrepreneurs and their innovations. Our specialty has many bright minds who have changed medicine forever. As a specialty, ophthalmology may be particularly receptive to innovation because those who enter eye care are self-selected for being open to new ways of thinking. After all, we left medical school, knowing much about the human body, only to concentrate on an extremely limited area with new anatomy, new terminology and new diagnostics. We are also a tech-oriented bunch by nature.

Since 2008, the American Academy of Ophthalmology Committee on Aging has been producing a podcast series that covers ocular diseases in the older population. In each episode the host discusses a hot topic with one or more experts who share their experiences from their clinical practice and the challenges they face. The topics are well chosen and discussions are lively, which make the interviews both informative and entertaining. By following the discussions, you are able to observe how an experienced ophthalmologist approaches issues, which I have found very useful as a supplement to reading a traditional textbook. My favorite episode is the one on giant cell arteritis (http://www.aao.org/audio/ocular-disease-in-older-population-giant-cell-arte) in which Dr. Andrew Lee, Dr. Neil Miller and Dr. Peter Savino discuss every aspect of diagnostics and treatment as well as the practical issues that arise.

I was trained by what is now called the Greatest Generation. After completing my own training, I have participated in the training of anterior segment ophthalmology fellows since 1978, which is 38 years. The fellows I have trained include baby boomers, Generation X and millennials. I am also the senior partner in an ophthalmology practice and have partners from all three generations. Finally, I live in an extended family that has five generations currently alive, ranging in age from 2 years to 90 years. These experiences have allowed me to develop a few impressions of generational differences. I may ramble a bit, but to start, let me first give my definition of the five generations currently inhabiting our country.

Millennial ophthalmologists are being trained differently, are practicing differently, are completing surgeries differently and are entering the work force differently than the baby boomer generation that preceded them in the field.

Bausch + Lomb and IBM are collaborating on an innovative app for Apple’s iPhone and iPad that is designed to give cataract surgeons patient data in the clinic and operating room, the two companies announced earlier this year.

Compared with external measurements alone, devices that use ultrasound biometry technology can provide ophthalmologists with excellent images of the anterior chamber and posterior chamber of the eye.

Dynamic light scattering may be used to determine whether age-related nuclear cataracts are associated with loss of a critical protein in the crystalline lens.

A new hand-held device capable of taking images of a child’s retina with cellular resolution has been developed by engineers and physicians at Duke University, according to a university press release.