Program of Events


Monday, 13 October 2008
The Marriott Pre-function Hallways
5:00 – 8:00 Registration and Welcoming Reception (hors d’oeuvres and beverage service)


Tuesday, 14 October 2008
The Marriott Parthenon Rooms A-E and Prefunction Hallways

7:00 – 8:00 Breakfast Buffet

8:00 – 8:15 Welcoming Remarks
• David J. Calkins, Conference Organizer, The Vanderbilt Eye Institute
• Paul Sternberg, Chairman, The Vanderbilt Eye Institute

8:15– 8:30 Tom Brunner, President & CEO, The Glaucoma Research Foundation
“Where is the cure?”


8:30– 10:00 Speaker Session 1

8:30-9:15 Brian Link, Medical College of Wisconsin
"Genetic analysis of glaucoma-associated phenotypes in zebrafish"

9:15-10:00 Jeffrey Goldberg, Bascom Palmer Eye Institute
“Molecular control of retinal ganglion cell survival and regeneration”


10:00 – 10:30 Coffee Break


10:30 – 12:00 Speaker Session 2

10:30-11:15 Steven Bernstein, University of Maryland
“Optic nerve ischemia and neuroprotection”

11:15-12.00 Cynthia Grosskreutz, Harvard Medical School
“Does hypoxia contribute to retinal ganglion cell death in glaucoma?”


12:00 – 1:30 Buffet Lunch and Panel Discussion: New Ideas #1
Martin Wax, Art Weber (Michigan State University), Jeff Gidday (Washington University)


1:30 –3:45 Speaker Session 3

1:30-2:15 David Sretavan, University of California San Francisco
“The Optic Nerve Head in Disease: Experimental Models and Platforms for High-Throughput Analysis”

2:15-3:00 Haixi Miao, Northwestern University
“Susceptibility to Glaucoma: Gene Expression and Functional Studies of Astrocyte Transcriptome”

3:00-3:45 Harry Quigley, Johns Hopkins University
“Life and death in the garden of the retinal ganglion cell”


3:45 – 4:00 Coffee Break

4:00 – 5:00 Panel Discussion: New Ideas #2
• Larry Wheeler (Allergan), Min Chang (Vanderbilt), Julie Saugstad (Legacy Research)
• Claire Mitchell (University of Pennsylvania)

5:00 – 6:30 Wine reception and Poster Session

6:30 – 7:30 Centennial Buffet Dinner

7:30 – 8:30 Keynote Address: Professor Jon Kaas, Vanderbilt University
“Plasticity of the somatosensory system after spinal cord injury”


Wednesday, 15 October 2008
The Marriott Parthenon Rooms A-E and Prefunction Hallways

7:00 – 8:00 Breakfast Buffet


8:00– 10:15 Speaker Session 4

8:00-8:45 John Danias, Mount Sinai Medical Center
“Glaucoma animal models: From large to small and back again”

8:45-9:30 Gareth Howell, Jackson Laboratories
“DBA/2J glaucoma: Optic nerve head changes and resource development”

9:30-10:15 Nick Marsh-Armstrong, Johns Hopkins University
“The pattern of neurodegeneration in two glaucoma animal models”


10:15 – 10:30 Coffee Break


10:30 – 12:00 Speaker Session 5

10:30-11:15 Vittorio Porciatti, Bascom Palmer Eye Institute
“IOP-dependent changes of retinal ganglion cell function in DBA/2J glaucoma”

11:15-12.00 Richard Libby, University of Rochester
“The Bcl2 family in retinal ganglion cell death”

12:00 – 1:30 Buffet Lunch and Panel Discussion: New Ideas #3
Katie Saatman (University of Kentucky), Don Lo (Duke University), Rob Nickells (University of Wisconsin), Dong-Feng Chen (Schepens Eye Research Institute)


1:30 –3:45 Speaker Session 6

1:30-2:15 Adriana Di Polo, University of Montreal
“Novel non cell-autonomous mechanisms of retinal ganglion cell death”

2:15-3:00 Bruce Berkowitz, Wayne State University
“Prognostic MRI biomarkers of treatment efficacy for retinopathy

3:00-3:45 Len Levin, University of Wisconsin and University of Montreal
“Borane-protected phosphines: A novel class of neuroprotectants”


3:45 – 4:00 Coffee Break

4:00 – 5:00 Panel Discussion: New Ideas #4
Phil Horner (University of Washington), Al Reaves (Othera Pharmaceuticals), Jason Porter (University of Houston)

5:00 – 7:00 Wine reception and Poster Session

7:00 – 8:00 Commodore Cook-out Dinner and Closing Remarks