Work & fun

This year the ARVO (Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology) conference was held in Hawaii (United States). I presented a poster entitled ‘Topographical differences in the sclera of myopes and emmetropes’  that showed that anterior scleral shape is correlated with axial length (i.e. how long the eye is), meaning that the more myopic the eye (the longer), the more regular the sclera. The poster became a journal paper published in Contact Lens and Anterior Eye that you can check here. In this conference I also participated in the work of my colleague Ikram Issarti, ‘Elevation-based detection of keratoconus’ where she presented a hybrid model based on mathematical modelling and machine learning for the early detection of keratoconus (an ocular disease that deforms the cornea, the outer lens of the eye).

When going to conferences I try to take some days off to sightseeing, especially if it is an exotic destination such as Hawaii. My colleagues and me arrived to Honolulu two days (not enough!) before the conference started. Besides the (disappointing) rainy weather we enjoyed a lot the typical local activities, such as surfing and diving. When you have 12 meter of water over your head you don’t feel the rain after all. Scary and exciting at the same time, diving is an experience worth trying.

Pic from my first ever diving immersion, meeting a friend from the Pacific ocean