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Enthusiastic Feedback on the Young Researchers Vision Camp 2013

The Young Researcher Vision Camp 2013 took place at Castle Wildenstein from June 21st - June 23rd and had an overwhelming resonance within the community. More than 120 doctoral students and young postdocs from 13 countries (Switzerland, Spain, The Netherlands, Sweden, Germany, Ukraine, France, United Kingdom, Italy, Czech republic, Greece, Ireland and Belgium) took over the nearly 1000 years old masonry and made it for two and a half days to the interdisciplinary hub of European Vision Research and Ophthalmology. What a great experience!

Vision Camp 2013 - Group Photo of the Participants

Voices to the Vision Camp

"About the Vision Camp: I think the whole idea is outstanding. The possibility to network and learn from such a broad field, as it was shown by the different talks, is definitely a plus."

"Better than ARVO"

"What I especially liked about the Vision Camp was the idea of mainly inviting PhD students for the talks. It's a nice opportunity for us, and it somewhat differentiates from the 'classical' meetings,..."

"It is inspiring to hear the voices of young researchers and to see how much they are contributing to the field of vision research."

"Castle Wildenstein is a stunning 'vision' on the banks of the Danube - the perfect location to be inspired at Vision Camp!"

"Young people are the ones in the laboratories, getting the results and they can therefore provide a unique first-hand account of their discoveries."

The vision camp is very impressive, well-organized, high-quality speakers and nice location. Thank you. I enjoy it very much!

"It is fascinating and exciting to see how extremely well the young vision scientists present their work. If these people are the future of vision research then that future is very bright indeed!"

"As opposed to traditional conferences where senior scientists present work that is often many years old (if not decades...), at the Vision Camp, young scientists present the very latest and hottest research results."

"Beside the scientific exchange on a high level, I found particularly the networking character outstanding. Also the organization of the whole meeting was extraordinary. Great people, great meeting."

"This is the forefront of scientific research and as such an extremely interesting and truly stimulating experience."

"I enjoyed it a lot, from the wonderful choice of location to the excellent talks, and even the early morning sport. It was great catching up with the newest stories in vertebrate and especially mammalian vision. I immensely enjoyed vision camp because of the retreat-like atmosphere, which was the perfect setting to get in contact with the other participants. What better way can there be to get to know someone than doing sport together at 6 o'clock in the morning or having barbecue in the courtyard of a medieval castle ?"

"I learned a lot from listening to the talks and to the poster presentations. I am also happy to have gained the experience of going to an international conference and being able to network with other PhD students. It was fun to stay at a castle, the food was brilliant and the professional trainer did a great job!"

The Scientific Sessions of the Vision Camp 2013

Keynote Lecture 'Photoreceptor Diversity Across Mammals: Adaptations to Lifestyle and Habitat?'

  • Leo Peichl
    Max-Planck-Institut for Brain Research, Frankfurt, Germany
Yun Chen, Aiswaryah Radhakrishnan, Dimitrios Christaras, Abinaya Priya Venkataraman, Yohann Bénard

Session I: 'Optical and Adaptational Limits of Vision'

Chair: Yohann Bénard, Rodenstock AG, munich, Germany

  • "Adaptation to Simultaneuos Vision"
    Aiswaryah Radhakrishnan (Madrid, Spain)
  • "The Dark Side of the Eye"
    Dimitrios Christaras (Murcia, Spain)
  • "Adaptation in Peripheral Vision"
    Abinaya Priya Venkataraman (Stockholm, Sweden)
  • "Chromatic Effects on the Optics of the Eye"
    Yun Chen (Tuebingen, Germany)
Lysann Wagner, Stefanie Leopold, Patrick Schäfer, Joanna Kucharska, Antje Grosche

Session II: ‘Neuron-Glia Interactions in Vision’

Chair: Antje Grosche, Paul Flechsig Institut for Brain Research University of Leipzig, Germany

  • "Gliotransmitter release from retinal Müller glial cells"
    Lysann Wagner (Leipzig, Germany)
  • "Norrin mediates neuroprotective effects on retinal ganglion cells via the induction of leukemia inhibitory factor"
    Stefanie Leopold, (Regensburg, Germany)
  • "GDNF induces secretion of Cyr61 from retinal Müller cells – a novel neuroprotective factor in retinal degeneration"
    Joanna Kucharska (Munich, Germany)
  • "Stimulation and Analysis of Müller Glia and their Progeny"
    Patrick Schäfer (Dresden, Germany)
Rob Collin, Galuh D. Astuti, Kristof van Schil, Susanne Roosing, Henrique Alves

Session III ‘Identification and characterization of genes involved in retinal dystrophy’

Chair: Rob Collin, UMC St Radboud, Human Genetics, Nijmegen, The Netherlands

  • "Genetic causes of retinal dystrophy in Indonesia"
    Galuh D. Astuti,  (Nijmegen, The Netherlands)
  • "Identification of novel homozygous deletions in consanguineous pedigrees as a shortcut to candidate gene discovery in retinal dystrophies"
    Kristof van Schil (Ghent, Belgium)
  • "The farnesylated small GTPase RAB28 is mutated in autosomal recessive cone-rod dystrophy"
    Susanne Roosing (Nijmegen, The Netherlands)
  • "Crumbs homologues 1 and 2 restrict retinal progenitor cell proliferation and retina overgrowth"
    Henrique Alves (Amsterdam, The Netherlands)
Francois Paquet-Durand, Manoj Kulkarni, Lisa Shine, Luis Bonet-Ponce

Session IV 'Inherited Retinal Degenerations – Cell Death Mechanisms and Perspectives for Therapies'

Chair: Francois Paquet-Durand, Department for Ophthalmology,Tuebingen, Germany

  • "Calcium dynamics in dying cone photoreceptors"
    Manoj Kulkarni (Tübingen, Germany)
  • "HDAC inhibition restores visual function in blind dying on edge (dye) mutants"
    Lisa Shine (Dublin, Ireland)
  • "Ethanol exposure induces cell death by oxidative stress in human RPE in vitro model"
    Luis Bonet-Ponce (Valencia, Spain)
Dominik Fischer, Constantin Paun, Alona O. Cramer, Doron Hickey, Wadim Bowl

Session V: ‘Translational Research in Ophthalmology’

Chair: Dominik Fischer, Nuffield Laboratory of Ophthalmology, University of Oxford, UK

  • "Using extremes to identify rare pathogenic variants in age-related-macular degeneration"
    Constantin Paun (Nijmegen, Netherlands)
  • "Translating Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells from Bench to Bedside: Application to Retinal Diseases "
    Alona O. Cramer (Oxford, United Kingdom)
  • "Chimeric human opsins as potential optogenetic tools for vision"
    Doron Hickey (Oxford, UK)
  • "Fundus-controlled two-color adaptometry with the Microperimeter MP1"
    Wadim Bowl (Gießen, Germany)

Educational Sessions

  • Educational Session I
    Academic research versus industrial innovation: friends or foes?
    Siegfried Wahl, Carl Zeiss AG, Germany
  • Educational Session II
    The Balancing Act between Academia and Industry
    Jan Kremers, University Erlangen-Nuernberg, Germany
  • Educational Session III
    Starting a Business
    Jens Grosche, Effigos AG, Leipzig, Germany
  • Educational Session IV
    Insights to Research Activities driven by the Industry
    Markus Tiemann, Rodenstock GmbH, Munich, Germany

Keynote Lecture "Functional Assessment & Breadth of Application of Photoreceptor Transplantation Therapy"

  • Amanda Barber
    University of East Anglia, Norwich, UK
Timm Schubert, Katrin Franke, Arndt Meyer, Katja Reinhard, Nathalie Falk

Session VI ‘Retinal Circuits/Data Processing’

Chair: Timm Schubert, Centre for Integrative Neuroscience, Tuebingen, Germany

  • "Probing visual receptive fields at single synapse resolution"
    Katrin Franke (Centre for Integrative Neuroscience, Tuebingen)
  • "Connexin interactions in the inner retina of the mouse"
    Arndt Meyer (University of Oldenburg, Germany)
  • "Retinal ganglion cell recordings in human retina"
    Katja Reinhard (Centre for Integrative Neuroscience, Tuebingen)
  • "Pericentrin in der Retina"
    Nathalie Falk (University of Erlangen, Germany)
Karsten Boldt, Yves Texier, Nasrin Sorusch, Minh Nguyen, Margo Dona

Session VII: ‘Protein Transport and Dynamics in Photoreceptors’

Chair:Karsten Boldt, Department for Ophthalmology,Tuebingen, Germany

  • "Determination of ciliary sub-modules by SDS-destabilization and correlation profiling"
    Yves Texier (Eberhard Karls University Tübingen, Germany)
  • "Ciliary transport in photoreceptor cells: the role of Usher syndrome related protein networks"
    Nasrin Sorusch (Johannes Gutenberg University of Mainz, Germany)
  • "Dissection of functional modules associated with retinal ciliopathies by affinity proteomics"
    Minh Nguyen (Radboud University Nijmegen Medical Center, Nijmegen, The Netherlands)
  • "NINL and DZANK1 cooperate in assembling the cytoplasmic dynein 1 motor complex, a process essential for photoreceptor outer segment formation in zebrafish"
    Margo Dona (Radboud University Nijmegen Medical Center, Nijmegen, The Netherlands)
Emily Baird, Therese Reber, Anna Stöckl, Ronald Petie

Session VIII: 'Invertebrate Vision'

Chair: Emily Baird, Lund Vision Group, Lund University, Sweden

  • "The effect of light intensity on flight control in bumblebees"
    Therese Reber (Baird-Dacke Group, Lund Vision Group, Department of Biology, Lund, Sweden)
  • "Seeing in the dark: higher-order visual processing in moths"
    Anna Stöckl (Warrant Group, Lund Vision Group, Department of Biology, Lund, Sweden)
  • "Vision in box jellyfish"
    Ronald Petie (Lund Vision Group, Department of Biology, Lund, Sweden)
Dominic Eberle, Anna Seifert, Katherine Warre-Cornish, Tiago Ferreira

Session IX: ‘Regenerating Vision’

Chair: Dominic Eberle, Center for Regenerative Therapies Dresden, Germany

  • "Cellular Reprogramming - An approach to drive cells towards retinal cell fate"
    Anna Seifert (CRTD, Dresden, Germany)
  • "Modes of photoreceptor migration in transplant and development"
    Katherine Warre-Cornish (UCL, London, UK)
  • "Cone-like photoreceptor transplantation into the mouse retina"
    Tiago Ferreira (CRTD, Dresden, Germany)