Short-Term Research Training for Optometry Students

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DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Eighteen vision scientists at the School of Optometry, Indiana University seek to provide short-term research training to students in optometry school. The long-term objective is to develop in these students an abiding interest in research that will motivate them to study for the M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in vision science, and ultimately lead to careers in health-related vision research. Students are mentored by vision scientists who are funded by the NEI or by industry in health-related areas of research. Support is requested for ten short-term trainees for eight weeks of summer research in the laboratories of vision scientists. Students enter the program usually at the end of the first year in optometry school. The areas of potential research training include: ocular surface problems; regulation of ion transport and metabolic activity in the cornea; cortical processing of spatial information including amblyopia; development of the visual system in infants; accommodation and eye movements; development of tests of vision in relation to retinal ganglion cells; glaucoma; retinal function; problems of contact lens wear; epidemiology of the eye; adaptive optics; myopia; optical aberrations of the eye; and pathophysiology of the trabecular meshwork. A graduate level course exposes trainees to ethical issues in research, and a weekly seminar provides students the opportunity to discuss their research. Trainees are able to continue their research interest during the academic year after the summer training by participating in weekly meetings of visiting scholars, and by attending scientific meetings at which they present their research under the guidance of their mentors. Trainees are encouraged to continue their participation in later summers and to incorporate their data as part of the thesis for the M.S. degree.