2023 Symposium on AMD Program

6th Biennial International

Symposium on AMD

September 29-30, 2023 | Boston, MA

Organizing Committee

CO-CHAIRS

Patricia A. D’Amore, PhD, MBA

Charles L. Schepens Professor of Ophthalmology, Harvard Medical School

Vice Chair, Basic and Translational Research, Harvard Ophthalmology

Co-director, Harvard Ophthalmology AMD Center of Excellence Director, Howe Laboratory, Mass Eye and Ear

Associate Chief of Basic and Translational Research, Mass Eye and Ear

Senior Scientist, Schepens Eye Research Institute of Mass Eye and Ear

Deeba Husain, MD

Associate Professor of Ophthalmology, Harvard Medical School

Co-director, Harvard Ophthalmology AMD Center of Excellence

Principal Investigator, Harvard Ophthalmology Metabolomics Program in Retina Director, Medical Retina Fellowship Program, Mass Eye and Ear Director, Retina Consultants of MEE Stoneham, Mass Eye and Ear

Ivana K. Kim, MD

Associate Professor of Ophthalmology, Harvard Medical School

Co-director, Harvard Ophthalmology AMD Center of Excellence

Co-director, Harvard Ophthalmology Ocular Oncology Center of Excellence Director, Retina Clinical Research, Mass Eye and Ear

Fellowship Director, Ocular Oncology Fellowship, Mass Eye and Ear

Evangelos S. Gragoudas Distinguished Scholar in Retina Research, Mass Eye and Ear

EX-OFFICIO

Joan W. Miller, MD

David Glendenning Cogan Professor of Ophthalmology, Harvard Medical School

Chair, Department of Ophthalmology, Harvard Medical School

Chair of Ophthalmology, Mass Eye and Ear and Massachusetts General Hospital Ophthalmologist-in-Chief, Brigham and Women’s Hospital

6th Biennial International Symposium on AMD

Schedule

Friday, September 29, 2023 - Starr Center, 185 Cambridge Street, Boston, MA

7:00 - 8:00 AM Breakfast

8:00 - 8:05 AM

8:05 - 8:30 AM

OMICS

8:30 - 8:50 AM

Welcome & Introduction - Joan W. Miller, MD - David Glendenning Cogan Professor of Ophthalmology and Chair of Ophthalmology, Harvard Medical School

The Search for an Early Anatomical Endpoint in Atrophic AMD Professor Robyn Guymer AM, MBBS, PhD - Deputy Director, Centre for Eye Research Australia, Department of Surgery, University of Melbourne

Gut Microbiome and AMD; Insights From Germ-free and Gnotobiotic Animal Models

Dimitra Skondra, MD, PhD - Associate Professor of Ophthalmology and Visual Science, University of Chicago Medicine

AMD Metabolomics: Opportunities, Challenges, and Next Steps

8:55 - 9:15 AM

9:20 - 9:40 AM

9:45 - 10:20 AM

Milam A. Brantley, MD, PhD - Associate Professor, Ophthalmology & Visual Sciences, and Assistant Professor, Molecular Physiology and Biophysics, Vanderbilt University

What Can We Learn About Atrophic and Neovascular AMD From Choroidal Transcriptomics?

Robert Mullins, MS, PhD - Professor of Ophthalmology and Visual Science, University of Iowa

Panel Discussion (Moderator: Margaret M. DeAngelis, PhD - Professor and Ira G. Ross and Elizabeth Olmsted Ross Endowed Chair, Department of Ophthalmology, University at Buffalo/SUNY)

10:25 - 10:45 AM Break

10:45 - 11:05 AM

11:10 - 11:30 AM

11:35 - 11:55 AM

12:00 - 12:40 PM

Regulating Innate Immunity in the RPE Professor Andrew Dick, BSc, MBBS, MD - Duke Elder Chair & Director of Institute, Ophthalmology, University College London, University of Bristol, NIHR BRC Moorfields

Neuroinflammatory Targets and Strategies for AMD Therapies

Wai T. Wong, MD, PhD - Vice President, Retinal Disease, Janssen Pharmaceuticals

Aging and Neovascular AMD-mediated Macular Fibrosis

Heping Xu, MD, PhD - Professor, School of Medicine, Dentistry and Biomedical Sciences, Wellcome Wolfson Institute for Experimental Medicine, Queen’s University Belfast

Panel Discussion (Moderator: Demetrios Vavvas, MD, PhD - Solman and Libe Friedman Professor of Ophthalmology, Harvard Medical School)

12:40 - 1:40 PM Lunch

OXIDATIVE STRESS

1:40 - 2:00 PM

2:05 - 2:25 PM

2:30 - 2:50 PM

2:55 - 3:35 PM

The Role of Reactive Oxygen Species in Physiology and Pathology Professor Andrey Y. Abramov, PhD - Professor, Clinical and Movement Neurosciences, Institute of Neurology, University College London

Metabolite Signaling and Oxidative Stress in Aging RPE

Pamela Martin, PhD - Professor, Ophthalmology and Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Medical College of Georgia, Augusta University

Oxidative Stress: What Role Does It Play and When Is It Involved in AMD?

James T. Handa, MD - Robert Bond Welch Professor of Ophthalmology, Johns Hopkins Medicine, Wilmer Eye Institute

Panel Discussion (Moderator: Goldis Malek, PhD - Associate Professor in the Department of Ophthalmology, Pathology, and Cell Biology, Duke University School of Medicine)

Harvard Medical School Department of Ophthalmology

Friday, September 29, 2023 - Continued

3:35 - 3:55 PM Break

Introduction to the Friedman Lecture

4:00 - 4:10 PM

4:10 - 4:15 PM

Evangelos S. Gragoudas, MD - Charles Edward Whitten Distinguished Professor of Ophthalmology, Harvard Medical School

Introduction of the 2023 Friedman Lecturer

Joan W. Miller, MD - David Glendenning Cogan Professor of Ophthalmology and Chair of Ophthalmology, Harvard Medical School

2023 Ephraim Friedman, MD Lecture in Ophthalmology

The Bumpy Road to Complement-based Therapies for AMD

4:15 - 5:15 PM

Cathy Bowes Rickman, PhD - George and Geneva Boguslavsky Distinguished Professor of Eye Research and Professor of Cell Biology, Duke University School of Medicine

5:15 - 5:20 PM Adjourn - Deeba Husain, MD - Associate Professor of Ophthalmology, Harvard Medical School

The Liberty Hotel (215 Charles Street, Boston, MA)

6:00 - 7:00 PM Reception & Trainee Posters

7:00 - 9:00 PM Gala Dinner

Saturday, September 30, 2023 - Starr Center, 185 Cambridge Street, Boston, MA

7:30 - 8:20 AM Breakfast

8:20 - 8:25 AM

AGING

8:30 - 8:50 AM

Welcome Back - Ivana K. Kim, MD - Associate Professor of Ophthalmology, Harvard Medical School

A Genomic Search for Novel Anti-AMD Interventions: Partial Reprogramming and Beyond

Yuancheng Ryan Lu, PhD - Postdoctoral Fellow, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research

Small Molecule Autophagy Activators for Treating AMD

8:55 - 9:15 AM

9:20 - 9:40 AM

9:45 - 10:25 AM

Toren Finkel, MD, PhD - G. Nicholas Beckwith III and Dorothy B. Beckwith Chair in Translational Medicine, Distinguished Professor of Medicine, and Director of the Aging Institute, University of Pittsburgh

Age-related Changes in Molecular Interaction Between RPE and Neuroretina

Dorota Skowronska-Krawczyk, PhD - Assistant Professor, Gavin Herbert Eye Institute Ophthalmology, and Assistant Professor, Physiology & Biophysics, University of California, Irvine

Panel Discussion (Moderator: Maria B. Grant, MD - Professor and Eivor and Alston Callahan Endowed Chair of Ophthalmology and Visual Science, University of Alabama at Birmingham)

10:25 - 10:45 AM Break

RETINAL PIGMENT EPITHELIUM

Exploring Immune Vascular Interactions to Identify Novel Therapeutic Targets

10:45 - 11:05 AM

11:10 - 11:30 AM

11:35 - 11:55 AM

12:00 - 12:40 PM

Raj Apte, MD, PhD - Paul A. Cibis Distinguished Professor of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences and Vice Chair for Innovation and Translation, Washington University in St. Louis

Human RPE Proteomic Analysis Reveals Altered Pathways and Potential Targets for Treatment

Deborah A. Ferrington, PhD - Chief Scientific Officer, Doheny Eye Institute

Phase Separation Regulates Both Fluid-Phase and Intracellular Complement Activation in the RPE

Aparna Lakkaraju, PhD - Professor of Ophthalmology, University of California, San Francisco

Panel Discussion (Moderator: Silvia C. Finnemann, PhD - Kim B. and Stephen E. Bepler Chair in Biology, Fordham University)

Saturday, September 30, 2023 - Continued

IN VITRO MODELS

1:40 -2:00 PM

2:05 -2:25 PM

2:30 - 2:50 PM

2:55 - 3:35 PM

3:40 -3:50 PM

3:50 -4:00 PM

4:00 - 4:20 PM

6th Biennial International Symposium on AMD

Optogenetic Transformation of Retinal Organoids to Restore Visual Function

Marcela Garita-Hernandez, PhD - Instructor in Ophthalmology, Harvard Medical School

Modeling Age-related Macular Degeneration with 2D and 3D iPSC-derived Outer Blood-retina Barrier

Kapil Bharti, PhD - Scientific Director and Senior Investigator, Ocular and Stem Cell Translational Research Section, National Eye Institute, National Institutes of Health

Using iPSCs to Decipher AMD Pathobiology

Ruchira Singh, PhD - Associate Professor of the Departments of Ophthalmology and Biomedical Genetics, University of Rochester Medical Center

Panel Discussion (Moderator: Cathy Bowes Rickman, PhD - George and Geneva Boguslavsky Distinguished Professor of Eye Research and Professor of Cell Biology, Duke University School of Medicine)

BrightFocus Foundation Grants & Travel Award Winners

Diane Bovenkamp, PhD - Vice President, Scientific Affairs, BrightFocus Foundation

Conference Summary & Closing Remarks - Patricia D’Amore, PhD, MBA - Charles L. Schepens Professor of Ophthalmology, Harvard Medical School

Refreshments & Networking

BrightFocus Foundation Travel Award Winners

Mohamed Shawky, PhD Research Associate

Wayne State University

Detroit, MI

Katie L. Bales, PhD Postdoctoral Fellow

Atlanta VA Medical Center

Atlanta, GA

Sayan Ghosh, PhD Postdoctoral Associate

University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine

Pittsburgh, PA

John Han, PhD

Postdoctoral Research Fellow

Kellogg Eye Center, University of Michigan

Ann Arbor, MI

Timothy Lee, BS Research Assistant

University of Pennsylvania

Philadelphia, PA

Joseph Benjamin Lin, BS Medical Student

Washington University in St. Louis

St. Louis, MO

Abdelhakim M. Morsy, MD, PhD Postdoctoral Fellow

Augusta University, Medical College of Georgia

Augusta, GA

Ruchi Sharma, PhD Staff Scientist

NEI/NIH

Bethesda, MD

Emily Tom, BS Graduate Student

University of California, Irvine

Irvine, CA

Jing Wang, PhD Research Scientist

Augusta University, Medical College of Georgia

Augusta, GA

Platinum Level

Advertiserments

Silver Level

Bronze Level

Travel Awards

Bright Focus Foundation

Educational Grants

Regeneron

Clearside Biomedical

Novelty Nobility

Novartis

Promotional Sponsors

Platinum

Genentech

Silver

RegenxBio

Bronze

Apellis

Heidelberg Engineering

Iveric Bio