Project title: Glaucomatous Visual Field Damage: Enabling earlier and more accurate detection

Primary Supervisor: Associate Professor Zhichao Wu

Email: wu.z@unimelb.edu.au

Suitable for: PhD

Glaucoma is a progressive optic neuropathy characterised by the progressive loss of the retinal ganglion cells (RGCs). However, up to 50 per cent of the RGCs need to be lost by the time abnormalities can be detected on a standard visual field test. This represents a significant missed opportunity for early detection and prevention of irreversible vision loss.

Novel techniques like microperimetry (or fundus-tracked perimetry) can enable assessment of visual function with a substantially improved level of resolution and precision. State-of-the-art retinal imaging can also enable near-cellular visualisation of neuronal degeneration, but the nature of their relationship with visual field loss remains to be clearly established.

Projects are therefore available to exploit these technological advances to further understand the nature and structural basis of visual field loss in glaucoma. The findings of these projects will have translational relevance in the development of novel approaches for evaluating new therapies in glaucoma and earlier detection of this disease in clinical care.