Madurai, 14-15 June

AMRF conducted a two-day Cornea Research Conference in collaboration with the University of Edinburgh (UoE). This conference was initiated through the interaction between Dr. N. Venkatesh Prajna, Chief, Cornea & Refractive Surgery Services, Aravind-Madurai , Prof. Kev Dhaliwal and Dr. Beth Mills, Centre for Inflammation Research, Institute for Regeneration and Repair, the University of Edinburgh, UK. The conference was led by Prof. K. Dharmalingam, and coordinated by Dr. D. Bharanidharan, Scientist-Microbiology and Bioinformatics, AMRF.

During the conference, scientists from UoE introduced a new technology called “FluoroPi” aimed at establishing and developing a cost-effective device for diagnosing the causative microbe of microbial keratitis in patients. Further, clinicians, scientists, and research scholars engaged in brainstorming the current challenges and solutions in microbial keratitis. Dr. Bharanidharan also provided an overview of the core research facilities and ongoing research projects of AMRF. Sharing of the research activities between the two institutions served as a remarkable initiative, laying foundation for ongoing and future collaborative projects, as well as fostering long-term associations between them.

A total of 14 papers were presented by UoE, AEH and AMRF team over the course of two days, covering various aspects of corneal research.
Additionally, 16 posters were presented.

• Hariharan G’s poster titled Isolation and characterisation of the extracellular vesicles from Aspergillus flavus clinical isolate received the Favourite Poster Award.

Below is the list of presented papers:

• Prof. K. Dharmalingam – Comparatives proteomics of conidial surface proteome and early exoproteome of A.flavus and A.fumigatus
• Dr. Lalitha Prajna – Microbial keratitis – current clinical diagnostics, pitfalls, and wish-list
• Dr. N. Venkatesh Prajna – Microbial keratitis – current treatments, patient prognosis and state of the art (trials)
• Dr. Stuart Dickson – Seeing is believing: Microscopic molecular imaging. The distal lung as a window to the eye
• Dr. Syam Mohan & Dr. Kay Russell – Development & evaluation of FluoroPi: a frugal microscope for microbial keratitis diagnosis with SmartProbes
• Dr. Beth Mills – AspLFD: point of care diagnosis of Aspergillus causing fungal keratitis
• Dr. N. Siddharth – Development and clinical evaluation of A CRISPR/Cas12a based diagnostic platform for ocular fungal infections
• Dr. Leonie Fingerhut – Approaches to 3D cell culture model of microbial keratitis
• Dr. Sheelagh Duncan – Antimicrobial photodynamic therapy: a new approach for treating microbial keratitis
• Dr. Gowri Priya C – MiRNAs regulating human limbal epithelial stem cells
• D. Bharanidharan – MiRNAs role in fungal keratitis
• Dr. OG. Ramprasad – Exploring the mechanism of action of a novel chemical crosslinker designed to treat keratoconus
• Dr. Daipayan Banerjee – Comparative transcriptomic and proteomic analysis to identify key genes and pathways in pterygium in the Indian population
• Dr. Anshupa Patnaik – Proteomics in fungal keratitis- a clinician’s perspective