OpAL - an Initial Training Network combining physics, optics and biology
OPAL is an Initial Training Network (ITN) funded by the European Commission's Seventh Framework Programme (FP7) under the Marie Curie Actions. The duration of the project is 48 months, starting from April 2011. It brings together 6 partners from four different countries.
Combining the expertise of five University-based European laboratories, two industrial partners, and a high-ranking international advisory board, this training network will provide a platform to train young natural scientists at the interface of physics, optics and biology. Despite extensive research on the optics of the eye and the neuronal processing of the optical image that is projected on the retina, a number of basic questions are surprisingly unclear.
Training activities will include complementary skills courses, lab exchanges, external schools and network meetings. The proposed research projects will elucidate the limits of visual performance, using state of the art technology. They will have direct implications for optical correction strategies (spectacles, refractive surgery, etc.) and for the understanding how different mono- and polychromatic aberrations limit vision and sensitivity in low light environments. In addition, the research will improve the understanding of the cues that drive accommodation and emmetropization, the mechanisms by which neural processing in the eye can "sharpen" degraded, aberrated or defocused retinal images, and how visual performance is affected by diurnal factors.
Network Partner
Partner | Affiliation | Country | Principal Investigator |
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1 | Eberhard-Karls Universitaet Tuebingen | Germany | Frank Schaeffel (Scientific Coordinator) Thomas Wheeler-Schilling (Managing Coordinator) |
2 | Universidad de Murcia | Spain | Pablo Artal |
3 | Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm | Sweden | Linda Lundstrom Peter Unsbo |
4 | Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Cientificas, Madrid | Spain | Susana Marcos |
5 | University of Crete, Heraklion | Greece | Harilaos Ginis Ioannis Pallikaris |
6 | Rodenstock GmbH, Munich | Germany | Gregor Esser Anne Seidemann |
Associated Partner
Associated Partner | Company | Country | Executive directors |
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1 (private sector) | Plusoptix GmbH, Nuernberg | Germany | Jürgen G. E. Schmidt Christian Schmidt |
External Advisory Board
Name | Affiliation | Country | Research Interests |
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Prof. Stephen Burns | Indiana University, Bloomington | USA | colour vision| optical measurements of cone waveguide properties| adaptive optics |
Prof. Dan-Eric Nilsson | Lund University | Sweden | evolution of vision| how eyes and visual systems arose during evolution| which visual tasks appeared first, and what requirements these placed on eye structure and physiology |
Prof. David R Williams | Rochester University, Center for Visual Science | USA | Psychophysical, anatomical, and imaging techniques to study how the structure of the eye and brain affects visual experience| patents for work in wavefront sensing and imaging |
Objectives
Despite extensive research on the optics of the eye and neuronal processing of the optical image that is projected on the retina, the following questions, related to our every-day visual experience, remain particularly exciting:
the neural "image sharpening" mechanisms in the eye, their algorithms and time courses
how the eye deals with the prominent effects of chromatic aberrations, whether they are useful or disturbing
how defocus is detected and how it guides accommodation and emmetropization
how spatial vision is limited by the optics at low luminances
how spatial visual performance varies over the day, given that there are diurnal variations in eye length and intraocular pressure
how scattering of light in the healthy eye limits contrast vision and glare
Solving these questions will not only lead to optimized optical corrections but also to a deeper understanding of visual functions.
Within the frame of 6 clusters, which are directly linked to the questions raised above, several Work Packages will be jointly performed by the network partners.
Events
September 20, 2012
1° OpAL Annual Meeting - September 20 - 21, 2012
The first OpAL Annual Meeting was successfully held from September 20 - 21, 2012 in Madrid.
All Principal Investigators, fellows and members of the External Advisory Board were getting together at this meeting while the program was mainly composed of fellows' talks about their OpAL research projects.
September 18, 2012
1° OpAL Summer School - September 18 - 19, 2012
image opal summer school group photo
The first Summer School, mandatory for all OpAL fellows, was successfully held from September 18 - 19, 2012 in Madrid, kindly hosted by OpAL project partner 04, Susana Marcos.
May 29, 2012
Visit of Rodenstock GmbH for all OpAL fellows - May 29 - 30, 2012
All Opal fellows are invited to visit private sector OpAl partner Rodenstock GmbH at their headquarter in Munich.
On Tuesday, May 29, there will be a full day event titled "Insight into industrial research and development - from the basics to the product development of individual progressive addition lenses". On Wednesday, May 30, 2012, in a morning session the fellows will learn about "Physiological aspects for spectacle lens design".
Please log in to download the agenda of the visit of Rodenstock GmbH.
March 12, 2012
Complementary Training Course - March 05-09, 2012
image ctc 01
image ctc 02
The first Complementary Trainings Course was held in Tuebingen, Germany beginning of March 2012, together with ESRs and ERs of a second Initial Training Network (Edu-GLIA, www.eduglia.eu). The following courses were presented:
Scientific Writing,
Ethical Aspects of Medicine and Medical Research,
Project Management.
Please log in to download the agenda of the Joint Complementary Training Course.
May 16, 2011
Kick-Off Meeting 'OpAL'
Image Kick-Off Meeting 2011
Linda Lundstroem, Peter Unsbo, Susana Marcos, Frank Schaeffel, Harilaos Ginis, David R. Williams, Gregor Esser, Thomas Wheeler-Schilling, Michaela Bitzer
The Kick-Off-Meeting of the OpAL consortium was held in Tuebingen, Germany – hosted by the Scientific Coordinator Prof. Frank Schaeffel – on May 16/17.
The network partners presented the projects for future OpAL fellows and discussed the recruitment process of Early Stage and Experienced Researchers. Open OpAL positions can be found on the Vacancies page Simplify things
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