EyeWorld Asia-Pacific March 2011 Issue

35 EW NEWS & OPINION March 2011 SNEC 21: Tomorrow’s vision, today by Chiles Aedam R. Samaniego EyeWorld Asia-Pacific Senior Staff Writer SNEC turns 21 with a meeting focused on translational research, held at the Resorts World Convention Centre, Sentosa, Singapore, from 22 to 23 January 2011 T he Singapore National Eye Centre (SNEC, Singapore) came of age this year, celebrating its 21st anniversary with a scientific meeting with the theme “Tomorrow’s vision, today”. “Symbolic of the special and symbiotic relationship shared by SERI [Singapore Eye Research Institute, National University of Singapore, Singapore] and SNEC, we decided to hold our SNEC 21st Anniversary International Meeting back to back with Asia-ARVO 2011,” said Donald Tan, MD, Medical Director, SNEC, and Chairman, SERI. “I think this is ideal because it is truly reflective of the fundamental need for translational synergy between research scientists and clinical medicine.” The meeting, he said, brought together the three basic groups involved in conducting research and, ultimately, translating that research into clinical practice: research scientists, clinicians, and industry partners. “The way ahead is translational research, and we hope to help pave the way for optimum and enhanced ophthalmic treatments and management strategies,” he said. “I’m so pleased that a truly distinguished panel of eminent, key opinion leaders has assembled and we’ve been able to entice them to deliver a set of phenomenal plenary lectures,” he added. “We hope to provide that international perspective necessary to work towards alleviating world blindness.” The meeting included nine keynote plenary lectures, an ophthalmic imaging course, and a comprehensive program for nurses and allied health professionals. The scientific meeting culminated in a special symposium on complex ophthalmic cases called “Minefields & Battles” (see feature story). New eyes The keynote plenary lectures, while all clearly designed for an audience of clinicians, tended towards an appreciation for research, emphasizing the invaluable role research plays in optimizing clinical outcomes. This tone was set by the Arthur Lim Gold Medal Lecture, delivered this year by Peng Tee Khaw, MD, Professor of Glaucoma & Ocular Healing, Consultant Ophthalmic Surgeon, and Director, UK National Institute for Health Research Biomedical Research Centre in Ophthalmology, Moorfields Eye Hospital and UCL Institute of Ophthalmology, London, England, UK. Using examples from glaucoma treatment and surgery, Dr. Khaw talked about “Translating laboratory discovery to clinical advances— Repairing and regenerating the eye”. For instance, Dr. Khaw and his colleagues had observed in clinical practice that cystic blebs were always surrounded by a ring of scar tissue—the “ring of steel”—and always drained aqueous anteriorly. After verifying these findings through experiments, further study led them to conclude that, to prevent cystic blebs, their surgical technique should create a larger surface area and direct aqueous drainage posteriorly. Modifying their surgical techniques around these conclusions, Dr. Khaw and his colleagues established a set of technical standards that they now call the Moorfields Safer Surgery System. The very simple changes they made to their techniques, said Dr. Khaw, dramatically reduced bleb-related complications such as cystic blebs and endophthalmitis not just at Moorfields, but at other centers that adopted the system. “It’s very possible to improve the outcome of surgery with very simple interventions,” he said. Research, he added, “enables you to look at the same problem with different eyes”, allowing you to solve problems that had previously seemed insoluble. This sentiment was later echoed by Jack Rootman, MD, Professor in Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences, and Pathology and Laboratory Medicine at the University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada, in his own keynote plenary lecture, on “Future trends in the management of orbital disease”. Paraphrasing the French novelist Marcel Proust, Dr. Rootman said: “The only real new voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes but in seeing with new eyes.” Multidisciplinary Often, said Dr. Khaw, new eyes come from collaboration with “people who know how to do other things”—i.e., people with expertise in other fields, not all of them directly related to ophthalmology or even necessarily medical. Dr. Khaw, Dr. Rootman, and fellow keynote plenary lecturers Neil R. Miller, MD (Professor of Ophthalmology, Neurology and Neurosurgery, Frank B. Walsh Professor of Neuro- Ophthalmology, and head of the Neuro-Ophthalmology and continued on page 36