Center for Ophthalmic Optics & Lasers (COOL)

Mission Statement

The mission of the Center for Ophthalmic Optics and Lasers (COOL) is to conserve, improve and restore vision through advances in laser and optical technology.

Description

The Center for Ophthalmic Optics and Lasers (COOL) at Doheny Eye Institute, University of Southern California (USC) is a interdisciplinary research center focusing on the application of biomedical optics in clinical medicine. The center has special expertise in two areas: optical coherence tomography (OCT) and laser eye surgery. Among the various eye imaging technologies, OCT has the highest spatial resolution and allows noncontact cross-sectional visualization of internal structures only a few micrometers in thickness. The femtosecond laser and excimer laser allow surgeons to cut and reshape the eye with micrometer control. Using these 2 cutting-edge technologies, the physicians and scientists in the COOL laboratory are working together to diagnose eye diseases with greater accuracy and perform eye surgeries with greater precision.

Press Release

Doheny Eye Institute Researcher, David Huang, MD, PhD, Receives $7 Million  in a Five Year Grant Renewal for Studying Ocular Imaging for the Diagnosis and Monitoring of Glaucoma

OCTOBER 6, 2008 – LOS ANGELES ---The National Eye Institute (NEI), a part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), has awarded nearly $7 million in a five-year grant renewal to David Huang, MD, PhD, at the Doheny Eye Institute (DEI), Keck School of Medicine at the University of Southern California (USC), for the Advanced Imaging for Glaucoma (AIG) study. The grant allows for continued research and advancement in ocular imaging for the diagnosis and management of glaucoma.

The award funding renewal, totaling $6,914,713 in direct cost, marks the second time AIGS has successfully competed for and been awarded NEI/NIH funding. The AIG project was first funded by the NEI/NIH in 2003, as a bioengineering partnership to improve quantitative imaging technologies for glaucoma diagnosis and management. The researchers on the AIG team have pioneered the use of very high-speed Fourier-domain optical coherence tomography to measure the various ways that glaucoma affects the anatomy and functions of the eye, including optic nerve head cupping, nerve fiber layer thinning, ganglion cell loss and decreased retinal blood flow.  Publications and a presentation from AIG are available on the web:  http://www.aigstudy.net/index.php?id=12

The competing renewal process is highly selective. This continued support from the NEI/NIH is a testament to the AIG research team and leadership.

The AIG Study Group consists of the following principal investigators in the clinical and engineering arms of the partnership:

David Huang, MD, PhD, overall principal investigator and study chairman at DEI, USC

James G. Fujimoto, PhD, engineering center at Massachusetts Institute of Technology

David Greenfield, MD, clinical center at University of Miami (UM), Bascom Palmer Eye Institute (BPEI)

Joel Schuman, MD, clinical center at University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC), Eye Center

Rohit Varma, MD, clinical center at DEI, USC

For more information, please visit our websites: http://www.doheny.org;  http://www.aigstudy.net and http://www.coollab.net

Image of the Month