My work mainly concerns refractive development and myopia (short-sightedness), but I am also interested in intraocular pressure regulation,
ocular therapeutics and ocular public health. I maintain research collaborations in the USA, Australia, Hong Kong, UK and Spain.
Myopia is a very common ocular disorder, with significant impact on health care costs, related to its management with spectacles, contact
lenses and refractive surgery, and to the treatment of its complications, high myopia being a leading cause of blindness. The etiology of
human myopia is poorly understood. Although genetic factors are likely to play a role, the current epidemic of myopia (>90% in some
Asian university student populations!), suggests a more complex picture. The clearest evidence of the role of visual experience in myopia
comes from studies in animals. These studies have lead to amazing discoveries, such as that young eyes can discriminate between
underfocussed and overfocussed states and adjust their growth accordingly, and that the choroid, once thought to be simply a vascular layer
that nourishes the retina, can itself accommodate to image defocus. My lab uses the widely accepted chick model to study myopia, and despite
impressive progress, there are still many questions waiting to be answered using this model, such as: What aspects of visual experience
underlie myopia? Do ocular aberrations have a role in ocular development? What are the ocular growth signals? What is the role of the sclera
in myopia? What are the options for pharmacological treatment of myopia? We also work with human subjects where, again, many questions are
ripe for answering, such as: Why does excessive near work cause myopia? Why are some individuals more susceptible than others? Why does
myopia sometimes develop asymmetrically? Why do pathological abnormalities disrupt normal refractive development in young eyes? This is an
exciting and fast moving field of research!
Wildsoet CF. Neural pathways subserving negative lens-induced emmetropization in chicks – Insights from selective lesioning of the optic nerve and/or ciliary nerve. Curr Eye Res (in press).
Nickla DL, Wildsoet CF. The effect of the non-specific nitric oxide synthase inhibitor L-NAME on the choroidal compensatory response to myopic defocus in chickens. Optom Vis Sci (in press).
Saltarelli D, Wildsoet CF, Nickla DL, Troilo D. Susceptibility to form deprivation myopia in chicks is not altered by an early experience of axial myopia. Optom Vis Sci (in press).
Schmid KL, Hill T, Abbott, M, Humphries M, Pyne K, Wildsoet CF (2003). Relationship between intraocular pressure and eye growth in chick. Ophthal Physiol Opt 23: 25-33.
Coletta NJ, Marcos S, Wildsoet CF, Troilo D. Double-pass measurement of retinal image quality in the chicken eye. Optom Vis Sci 80: 50-57.
Fitzgerald MEC, Wildsoet CF, Reiner A (2002). Temporal relationship of choroidal blood flow and thickness changes during recovery from form deprivation myopia in chicks. Exp Eye Res 74: 561-570.
Nickla DL, Wildsoet CF, Troilo D (2002). Diurnal rhythms in intraocular pressure, axial length and choroidal thickness in a primate model of eye growth, the comon marmoset. Invest Ophthalmol Vis Sci. 43: 2519-2528.
Wildsoet CF, Schmid KL (2001). Emmetropization in chicks uses optical vergence and relative distance cues to decode defocus. Vision Res 41: 3197-3204.
Nickla DL, Wildsoet CF, Troilo D (2001). Endogenous rhythms in axial length and choroidal thickness in chicks: implications for ocular growth regulation. Invest Ophthalmol Vis Sci. 42: 584-588.
Wildsoet CF, Schmid KL (2000). Optical correction of form deprivation myopia prevents refractive recovery in chick eyes with intact or sectioned optic nerves. Vision Res 40: 3273-3282.
Fitzgerald MEC, Wildsoet CF, Reiner A. Temporal relationship of choroidal blood flow and thickness changes during recovery from form deprivation myopia in chicks. Exp Eye Res (in press).
Wildsoet CF, Oswald PJ, Clark S (2000). Albinism: Its implications for refractive development. Invest Ophthalmol Vis Sci 41:1-7.
Wildsoet CF, Nevin ST, Schmid KL (2000). Influence of controlled viewing conditions on emmetropization to imposed myopic defocus in the chick. IN: Myopia Updates II, Proceedings of the 7th International Conference on Myopia, 1998 (LL-K Lin, Y-F Shih, PT Hung eds), Springer, Tokyo, pp. 113-117.
Wildsoet CF, Wong ROL (1999) News and Views: A far-sighted view of myopia. Nature Medicine 5: 879-880.
Wildsoet CF, Wood JM, Hassan S (1998). Development and validation of a visual acuity chart for Australian Aborigines and Torres Strait Islanders. Optom Vis Sci 75: 806-812.
Wallman, J, Wildsoet CF, Xu A, Gottlieb MD, Nickla DL, Marran L, Krebs W, Christensen AM (1995). Moving the retina: Choroidal modulation of refractive state. Vision Res 35: 37-50.
Collins MJ, Wildsoet CF, Atchison DA (1995). Monochromatic aberrations and myopia. Vision Res 35: 1157-1164.
Wildsoet CF, Brown B, Swann PG (1990). Darkness and sleep as contributing factors to diurnal variation in intraocular pressure. Glaucoma 12: 140-147.
Wildsoet CF, Pettigrew J (1988). Kainic acid-induced eye enlargement in chickens, differential effects on anterior and posterior segments. Invest Ophthalmol Vis Sci 29: 311-319.
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