Christine F. Wildsoet, OD, PhD, FAAO, FARVO

Affiliations

Center for Eye Disease and Development
NEI Summer Research Training Program
Director, Oxyopia Seminars

Research Areas

Eye growth regulation, refractive development and myopia (short-sightedness) – application of molecular & neurobiology, advanced imaging, and tissue engineering tools towards understanding mechanisms & developing novel therapies.

My research interests are mainly centered around refractive development and myopia (short-sightedness), although my interests extend beyond this to include intraocular pressure regulation and glaucoma therapy, and ocular public health issues. I have on-going collaborations, both within and outside the USA, both in myopia research and outside it. The etiology of human myopia is poorly understood; while genetic factors once were considered the main determinant, the current epidemic of myopia in some populations (near 90% in some Asian university student populations!), suggests that the picture is far more complex. Visual experience appears to be an important factor, with near work being apparently provocative although not everyone appears equally susceptible. There are currently as many unanswered questions and answered ones in terms of what aspects of the visual experience are important, the nature of myopia growth signals, and how eyes enlarge. As an ocular condition, myopia is very common and has significant ramifications in terms of health costs, be it in relation to its management with spectacles, contact lens or refractive surgical correction, or the treatment of associated complications, high myopia being a leading cause of blindness. My recent work has been mainly animal-based, using the chick as an animal model for myopia although there are many questions ripe for answering in human myopia research as well. This field of research is both exciting and fast moving.

Teaching

Optometry 226. Systemic Disease
Pathophysiology, pharmacotherapy, and clinical management of systemic and ocular diseases through a combination of lecture and problem-based learning approaches; disease processes emphasized, including cellular injury and repair, inflammation, infection, degeneration, and neoplasia; neurologic, cardiovascular, endocrine, pulmonary, and congenital disease and their relative ocular manifestations; basic principles of pharmacology and overviews of drugs used to treat diseases of each system; the role of the optometrist in the health care system.

Optometry 236. Ocular Manifestations of Systemic Disease
Pathophysiology, pharmacotherapy, and clinical management of systemic and ocular disease through a combination of lecture and problem-based learning approaches; disease processes emphasized, including cellular injury and repair, inflammation, infection, degeneration, and neoplasia; neurologic, cardiovascular, endocrine, pulmonary, and congenital disease and their relative ocular manifestations; basic principles of pharmacology and overviews of drugs used to treat diseases of each system; the role of the optometrist in the health care system.

Vision Science 298
Group Studies, Seminars, or Group Research

Selected Publications

http://wildsoetlab.berkeley.edu/wildsoet-publications.html