Research Roundup
2025 T35 program
Each year the College of Optometry selects first-year optometry students interested in optometric research to participate in its summer research training program. These eight students spent the 13 weeks of summer exploring their interest in research with College of Optometry faculty mentors. The goal of the program is to encourage professional students to embark on a career in eye research.
Megan Atwood
Advisor: Melissa Bailey (OD/MS‘01, PhD‘04)
Why the T35 program is important to me:
The T35 program has been incredibly valuable, allowing me dedicated time to work on my research outside of the regular school year. This program allowed me to build a solid foundation for my master’s project while working (and having fun) with advisors and friends!
What I’m doing:
My research focuses on the ciliary muscle and its relationship to the AC/A ratio and myopia. I’ve spent the summer analyzing images of the ciliary muscle and calculating AC/A ratios. I have also worked on the Contact Lens and Red Eyes (CLARE) study, which has bettered my clinical skills and given me the chance to work with patients.
Rita Barr
Advisors: Phil Yuhas (OD/MS’14, PhD’19) and Cynthia Roberts, PhD
Why the T35 program is important to me
One of the reasons I chose to come to The Ohio State University College of Optometry was the focus on advancing research in our field. This opportunity allowed me to continue exploring my passion for research while pursuing my optometry degree. The T35 program fosters a community of collaboration and encouragement to learn about the academic side of our profession while getting closer to my peers and gaining a mentor.
What I’m doing:
I am investigating the validity and reproducibility of a novel rebound tonometer called the Tono-Vera. Tonometers are an essential instrument for measuring intraocular pressure, an important tool used to diagnose and manage diseases like glaucoma and ocular hypertension. The study’s objective is to compare the performance of the Tono-Vera against tonometers currently in clinical use. The findings aim to inform clinicians by identifying the most reliable tools for practice, in order to optimize patient outcomes.
Emmy Campbell
Advisors: Walter Wu, PhD and Deyue Yu, PhD
Why the T35 program is important to me
The T35 summer program is important to me because it has given me an opportunity to learn about research at the college and has shown me how it can be incorporated into my career as an optometrist. I have always wanted to do research, and I am glad I was able to engage in it before classes started.
What I’m doing
I have been exploring how individuals with visual impairment use their smart devices (smart phone and glasses) when taking photos. We are looking at quality issues that typically arise in these photos, such as blur, brightness, darkness, obstruction, positioning, and framing issues. The potential application of this is seeing how well these photos can be used for remote AI assistance. There are many AI apps currently available that can assist those who are visually impaired like BeMyEyes, SeeingAI, Aira, etc.; however, quality problems in the photos uploaded to these apps pose as barriers to receiving accurate and successful responses.
Casey Cempre
Advisor: Heather Chandler, PhD
Why the T35 program is important to me
The T35 program is important to me so that I can get a jumpstart in collecting and analyzing data for the master’s degree. Basic science research can be very slow moving; typically experiments do not turn out how you’d expect on the first attempt, and there is a lot of troubleshooting and redesign that goes into every experimental piece of a project. This summer has given me the opportunity to get a lot of my initial troubleshooting completed so that my project can run more smoothly moving forward.
What I’m doing
This summer I am treating a lens epithelial cell line FHL-124 with the blood pressure medication Losartan and two of its metabolites. We are examining the drugs’ effects on fibrosis in the lens to see if any of them have the potential to be used therapeutically to prevent posterior capsule opacification that can occur after patients have cataract surgery. I have done MTT and LDH assays to help determine a proper dose range for my experiments; scratch tests to determine the drugs’ effects on cell migration; and western blots and qPCR to begin understanding the drugs’ mechanism of action in the FHL-124 cell line.
Connor Nielsen
Advisors: Stacey Choi, PhD and Nathan Doble, PhD
Why the T35 program is important to me
I knew Ohio State was the right choice after learning about its reputation as a premier research institution. I loved research in undergrad and knew it was something I wanted to continue in grad school and possibly beyond. I am grateful that T35 opened the opportunity to explore different careers in optometric research. The summer program also provided a head-start on my individual research project for the combined OD/MS degree program.
What I’m doing
This summer, I have been working in the adaptive optics lab under the guidance of Dr. Doble and Dr. Choi. Adaptive optics involves the real-time correction of high-order ocular aberrations to visualize cellular-level features in the retina in vivo. We are using a novel wide-field adaptive optics flood illumination fundus camera with line scan capability to investigate neurovascular coupling in the retina. Neurovascular coupling is a previously studied phenomenon involving the vasodilation response of retinal vessels due to flickering light. We have recruited and imaged control subjects with our system to quantify the effect of vasodilation on blood flow velocity. We hope to recruit research subjects with glaucoma to examine this phenomenon as well.
Kaylee Oberlies
Advisor: Heather Anderson, OD, PhD
Why the T35 program is important to me
When I began my pursuit of a career in optometry, research was not an area that initially captured my interest, as my passion was rooted in working directly with patients; however, participating in the T35 program showed me that research and patient care are not mutually exclusive but rather complementary aspects of the optometry profession. The T35 program gave me the opportunity to explore all the ways in which optometric research leads to advancements in education and technology, enhanced collaboration between eye care professionals, and improved patient care outcomes. It also provided me with the chance to work with children and learn pediatric clinical techniques. Thanks to the wonderful mentorship of my research advisors, I have managed to develop clinical confidence, forge meaningful relationships with members of the college community, and learn a tremendous amount about age-related changes in accommodative facility. It has been a true privilege to be part of the T35 program, and I am deeply grateful for the experience.
What I’m doing
I am investigating whether objective measurements of accommodative amplitude taken with a stationary, table-mounted autorefractor agree with those captured by two portable, commercially-available handheld autorefractors in individuals ages 5 to 24. Previous studies have shown that amplitudes obtained from the clinically convenient subjective push-up test tend to overestimate accommodative facility, especially in young children, and that objective measurement techniques provide a more accurate representation of accommodative ability. This is important for properly identifying and treating individuals whose accommodative function is insufficient for their age, as they will typically experience symptoms of diplopia, eye strain, blurry vision, and difficulty reading. Successful agreement between the autorefractors could lead to an alternative method of quickly and accurately measuring accommodative amplitude in a clinical setting.
Noah Shireman
Advisor: Bradley Dougherty (OD/MS’07, PhD’13)
Why the T35 program is important to me
The T35 program appealed to me as someone who was interested in research but had little experience with it. I was able to spend the entire summer learning the ropes of conducting research without having to worry about my optometry courseload. I also got early exposure to low vision, a specialty area of optometry that I have an interest in.
What I’m doing
A lot of the lab’s recent work has been related to hazard perception in drivers who use a bioptic telescope, which is an adaptive device that gives drivers with impaired vision a way to clarify distant objects. These experiments up to this point have lacked any way to track participants’ gaze, which we hypothesize could be useful for determining bioptic use patterns and if there are meaningful groups of safer or less safe drivers that can be made based on gaze characteristics. My study will aim to use a modified gaze tracking device in a hazard perception task to collect this data on bioptic drivers.
Haley Durr
Advisor: Jeffrey Walline (OD, MS’98, PhD’02)
Why the T35 program is important to me
The T35 program is impactful for me because it exposes me to the variety that research gives optometry, as well as the different career paths that can be pursued. I considered research in optometry before coming to school, but now I get first-hand experience in the field to help guide my career path. Because the T35 program is over the summer, I can fully focus on my research without the stress of classes. I look forward to continuing into the OD/MS program after the summer, which the T35 program has given me a jump start on!
What I’m doing
Over the summer, I have been learning about the past, present, and future of myopia management through readings and shadowing in the clinic. During my shadowing, I sit in on myopia management consultations, symptomatic checks, and annual progress exams. In addition to shadowing, I am analyzing data previously collected in the BLINK study. Based on previous analysis of the BLINK study, we know that accommodative response decreases and the sub-foveal choroidal thickness increases in the first two weeks of wearing Biofinity +2.50D add multifocal soft contact lenses. Through retrospective data analysis, we are looking to find the correlation, if any, of these two changes. Our goal is to develop a greater understanding of how myopia management with multifocal contact lenses mechanically works to slow the progression of the disease.
