Tuesday 8 December

8:30-8:45

Jonathan Crowston, Franz Grus & Keith Martin

Welcome and Introduction

8:45 - 10:30 am

Session I: The road to neuroprotection and neuroregeneration - reversing the negative impact of ageing

[Moderators: James Morgan, Patricia Boya]

Patricia Jusuf

Imaging neurogenesis in the developing and regenerating zebrafish retina

Ulrich Luhman

Gene transfer of E2F2 induces in situ regeneration of retinal pigment epithelium

Keith Martin

Protecting the ageing optic nerve

Katharina Bell

Glutamine synthetase shift involved in protective effects of antibodies on retinal ganglion cells

11:00 - 12.15 am

Session II: Autophagy and ageing

[Moderators: James Fawcett, Peter Van Wijngaarden]

Patricia Boya

Autophagy in ageing neurons

Christian Behl

RAB3GAP and autophagy

Jonathan Gilley

Axon degeneration and ageing

Lewis Fry

Structural plasticity of the AIS in injury and recovery

5:30-6:55 pm

Session III: Metabolic challenges of the ageing optic nerve

[Moderators: Elena Vecino, Elaine Johnson]

Julia Edgar

Bioenergetics of the optic nerve

Toru Nakazawa

The role of oxidative stress in optic nerve crush induced RGC death

Hani Levkowitch-Verbin

Increase in retinal ganglion cells´ susceptibility to elevated intraocular pressure and
impairment of their endogenous neuroprotective mechanism by age

Sebastian Funke

Retina proteomics provide new insights in glaucoma

Wednesday 9 December

8:30-10:30 am

Session IV:The ageing immune system and neuroinflammation

[Moderators: Larry Benowitz, Toru Nakazawa]

Andreas Meryk

Ageing of the immune system

Peter van Wijngarden

Parabiosis

Franz Grus

Ageing and autoantibodies in glaucoma

Craig Pearson

Characterization of the injury response to an optic nerve crush in the mouse

Jonathan Kipnis

Microglia function in the aged optic nerve

11:00-12:10 am

Session V: Animal models of ageing

[Moderators: Hani Levkowitch-Verbin, Jonathan Kipnis]

Jürgen Ripperger

Circadian clock

Elaine Johnson

Modelliong glaucoma in rats- how ageing alters risk

Julia Teister

Alpha-synuclein antibody is a new candidate to decelerate neurodegeneration in a glaucoma animal model

Fabian Anders

Impact of crystallin proteins on glaucoma

5:30-7:05 pm

Session VI: RGC injury and recovery

[Moderators: Katharina Bell, Patricia Jusuf]

Crawford Downs

Optic nerve head biomechanics and ageing

Julie Albon

Human optic nerve head connective tissue

Jonathan Crowston

Ageing and preservation of RGC function - evidence from human and experimental studies

James Morgan

Complement inhibition prevents early synaptic and dendritic loss in glaucoma

Eamonn Fahy

Single cell electrophysiology following acute IOP injury in mice

Thursday 10 December

8:30 - 10:30 am

Session VII: Neuronal regeneration

[Moderators: Keith Martin, Derek Welsbie]

Larry Benowitz

The role of zinc in optic nerve regeneration

Verena Prokosch-Willing

The neuroregenerative effect of retinal crystallins in glaucoma

Patrice Smith

Intrinsic regulators of regeneration

Richard Eva

Axon regeneration, transport and ageing

Jessie Van Houcke

Fishing for neuroregerative strategies in an ageing environment

11:00 - 12:15 am

Session VIII: Neuroplasticity

[Moderators: Christian Behl, Crawford Downs]

Jessica Kwok

Repairing the ageing brain - neural ECM in regeneration and rehabilitation

Elena Vecino

Muller cells

James Fawcett

Ageing and neuroplasticity

Kate Binley

Retinal ganglion cell dendritic retraction is an early marker of neuronal pathology in mouse retinal explants

5:30-7:25 pm

Session IX: Ageing genes lifestyle and environment

[Moderators: Jonathan Crowston, Franz Grus]

Derek Welsbie

High throughput genetic screeening for genes that induce neuronal death

Chris Leung

Intrinsic controls of axon regeneration

Lucia Poggi

The identification of commissural neuron’s precursors essential for guidance of ganglion cell pioneer axons

Carsten Schmelter

Mass spectrometric analysis of human immunoglobulin peptides

Franz Grus, Jonathan Crowston & Keith Martin

Final discussion: Consensus and future goals, future meetings