Objectively and dynamically measured human behaviors and their role in myopia development

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Candidate: Dr. Harb, a pediatric optometrist, has an overarching long-term goal of pursuing research that is translatable to clinical practice. In addition to pursuing a PhD in Vision Science, the shorter-term goals of additional training are to acquire: (1) an in-depth knowledge of current thinking in myopia development and treatment options from mechanistic and clinical perspectives, (2) proficiency in advanced statistical analyses to allow for novel data analysis, and (3) diverse career development opportunities. Environment: The UC Berkeley School of Optometry offers a rich environment for vision research, with approximately 30 Vision Science faculty members covering diverse research backgrounds. Dr. Harb’s mentors (Wildsoet, Levi, Banks) have demonstrated significant support towards her research and career development and Dr. Harb’s comprehensive training plan (grant/scientific writing, technical skills, clinical duties, coursework, mentoring students and professional activities) will provide ample career development during the award period. Research: The recent rapid rise in the prevalence of myopia is incompatible with a genetic explanation, leading to increased interest in environmental factors. However, a significant deficiency in studies attempting to quantify the visual environment has been the reliance on questionnaires, which are both inaccurate (Ostrin 2015, Chan 2016) and limited in their ability to capture potentially critical details such as the dosing of exposure, which has proven influential in animal studies (Lan 2014). Therefore, it is plausible that as yet un- discovered aspects of the visual environment and/or human behaviors, not captured in questionnaires will prove to be strong risk factors for the development of myopia. The overall objective of this application is to exploit objective technological methods and dynamic data analytics to assess human indoor/outdoor behaviors, including nearwork, to explore associations with the presence and/or magnitude of myopia and influence of gender/sex. Specific aims of the proposed project are: 1) To create a set of tools using objective technologies that integrate dynamic analytic techniques to capture key aspects of human behavior of potential relevance to myopia development, 2) To investigate the impact of nearwork behaviors on myopia presence, magnitude and progression in young adults and children and 3) To investigate the impact of indoor/outdoor behaviors on myopia presence, magnitude and progression in young adults and children. These aims will be accomplished through the utilization of several objective, technological-based methods and dynamic data analysis. The study will be conducted in both young adults and children, and will inform the rationale for a future multi-centered longitudinal study investigating behaviors in children prior to the onset of myopia (in a future R01 proposal). Myopia is a leading cause of preventable blindness, with significant economic and disease burden. Thus, this project is in line with NEI’s mission to promote research that ‘leads to sight-saving treatments, reduces visual impairment and blindness, and improves the quality of life for people of all ages.’