biomedical sciences research institute - Research - University of Ulster

Professor Roger AndersonProfessor of Vision ScienceContact details:T: +44 (0)28 70324891rs.anderson@ulster.ac.ukProfessor Anderson’s research interests centre around non-invasive assessment of the visual system using chromaticand achromatic measures of spatial acuity and the relationship between structural and functional measures of visualintegrity.The separation of neural and optical limits to both central and peripheral vision is also a major area of interest. Thishas particular clinical application in eye conditions such as glaucoma, age-related macular degeneration and in theageing eye where different visual functions may be selectively affected and neural damage must be separated from thefiltering effects of the eye’s optics. This work is being undertaken in collaboration with Moorfields Eye Hospital andthe UCL Institute of Ophthalmology in London where Professor Anderson is also Principal Optometrist (Research)and Professor of Visual Neuroscience respectively.Scanning laser image of optic nerve head.Professor Anderson’s recent work has increasingly involved the application of novel imaging methods to assessretinal structure and integrity in conditions that affect the photoreceptors of the retina, e.g. age-related maculardegeneration, retinitis pigmentosa and myopia. Current methods to grade retinal appearance in conditions suchas age-related macular degeneration do not relate well to the actual visual performance of the patient. A modifiedscanning laser ophthalmoscope, producing high magnification scans of the photoreceptor layer allows us to imagethe retinal cones in vivo. This may provide us with a better method to grade retinal structural change based onphotoreceptor loss.In vivo image of retinal conesProfessor Anderson continues his work as a member of the MRC College of Experts, the Royal Irish Academy LifeScience Committee, the General Optical Council Education Committee and the College of Optometrists ResearchCommittee.111