The annual meeting of the LITE European project held in Barcelona

The annual meeting of the LITE European project was attended by representatives from the Institut de la Màcula, the Institute of Photonic Sciences (ICFO), Costruzione Strumenti Oftalmici (CSO), Istituto Nazionale di Ottica (INO), Istituto di Fisica Applicata Nello Carrara (IFAC) and the Catalan Agency for Business Competitiveness (ACCIÓ).

The aim of the annual meeting, held in Barcelona on 3 February, was to monitor the work carried out over the past year and share the progress made on the European project, Development of Advanced Laser Imaging Techniques for the anterior and posterior Eye (LITE).

Dr. Jordi Monés, as the principal investigator, and Dr. Marc Biarnés, as co-investigator, represented the Institut de la Màcula, which is located in the Campus of the Hospital Quirón Teknon. The meeting was also attended by representatives of the Institute of Photonic Sciences (ICFO), Costruzione Strumenti Oftalmici (CSO), Istituto Nazionale di Ottica (INO), Istituto di Fisica Applicata Nello Carrara (IFAC) and the Catalan Agency for Business Competitiveness (ACCIÓ).

Development of Advanced Laser Imaging Techniques for the anterior and posterior Eye (LITE) is an innovative, international eye research project. It consists of creating a new system to produce new eye-imaging techniques to treat diseases of the retina and cornea. This new hybrid system will allow for a diagnosis that is better tailored to cellular level, thereby providing improved knowledge of these pathologies. In addition, it will offer new, more precise effectiveness assessment parameters in responding to new emerging experimental therapies. The new system will allow simultaneous treatment of both the anterior and the posterior segment of the eye and will cut equipment costs.

The Government of Catalonia, through ACCIÓ, and the Regional Government of Tuscany are co-financing this cooperative project in conjunction with the European Union. BiophotonicsPlus is part of the Seventh Framework Programme and takes the form of actions for the establishment of European networks to implement the European Research Space (ERA-Net). The Institut de la Màcula is undertaking the LITE project in collaboration with the Institute of Photonic Sciences (ICFO), Costruzione Strumenti Oftalmici (CSO), the Istituto Nazionale di Ottica (INO) and the Istituto de Fisica Applicata Nello Carrara  (IFAC).

Caption: from left to right: Dr. Jordi Monés, Anna Borrell and Dr. Marc Biarnés from Institut de la Màcula; Enrico Baria from INO; el Dr. Fulvio Ratto from IFAC; Riccardo Nicoletti from CSO and Dr. Pablo Loza-Alvarez and Dr. David Merino from ICFO.

Heading image: Courtesy of Prof. Jacque Duncan, Prof. Austin Roorda and Dr. David Merino.