Retina Research Group

Overview

The SERI Retina research group comprises clinicians, clinician-scientists and scientists with a broad focus and expertise in basic, translational and clinical research. We currently have two ongoing large collaborative programmes funded by the National Medical Research Council in Age-related Macular Degeneration (AMD) and Diabetic Retinopathy (DR) attracting funding in excess of SGD 30M. In addition, the group supports individual PIs in other projects related to retinal detachment and low vision. Our group works closely with other platform-based research groups within SERI, such as Population Health research group, Ocular Imaging group etc., by providing clinical expertise in retinal diseases. We also collaborate closely with Assoc Prof Wang Xiaomeng’s (Duke-NUS) laboratory to better understand the molecular and cellular causes of retinal disease. Our group also supports budding researchers who are interested in conducting pilot studies.

The group is led by Prof Gemmy Cheung (Head), and supported by Dr Jaclyn Neo (Administrative manager) and Ms Kelly Wong (Research coordinator manager). We are supported by a team of more than 10 clinical research coordinators dedicated to clinical studies in retina. We currently have one of the largest ongoing registries in Asian-AMD, with more than 1,000 prospectively enrolled patients over a course of 10 years with detailed phenotyping and genotyping data. Our DR registry also has over 1,000 prospectively enrolled patients with multimodality imaging and genotype data. We are supported by the SNEC Ocular Reading Centre (SORC), a world-class retinal image grading centre, and SERI’s state-of-the-art animal facility with a wide range of animal models for retinal diseases.

The Retina research group also welcomes collaboration with industry partners. Our team currently has collaborative projects with several pharmaceutical and imaging companies in a wide range of projects.

Projects

TAAP: Translational Asian Age-related macular degeneration Programme
Overall Lead PI Prof Gemmy Cheung
Theme PI: Prof Ching-Yu Cheng, Prof Tien Yin Wong, Assoc Prof Xiaomeng Wang, Prof Leopold Schmetterer, Assoc Prof Caroline Chee (NUHS), Assoc Prof Colin Tan (TTSH), Dr Kelvin Teo, Prof Ecosse Lamoureux, Prof Dan Milea

(NMRC Open Fund Large Collaborative Grant)

DYNAMO: Diabetes Study on Nephropathy and other microvascular complications
Overall Lead PI Prof Thomas Coffman
Theme PI: Prof Wong Tien Yin, Assoc Prof Gavin Tan Siew Wei
(NMRC Open Fund Large Collaborative Grant)

Publications

1. Teo KYC, Jordan-Yu JM, Tan ACS, Yeo IYS, Mathur R, Chan CM, Wong TY, Chakravarthy U, Cheung CMG. Efficacy of a novel personalised aflibercept monotherapy regimen based on polypoidal lesion closure in participants with polypoidal choroidal vasculopathy. Br J Ophthalmol. 2021 Feb 11:bjophthalmol-2020-318354. doi: 10.1136/bjophthalmol-2020-318354. Online ahead of print.

2. Cheung CMG, Lai TYY, Teo K, Ruamviboonsuk P, Chen SJ, Kim JE, Gomi F, Koh AH, Kokame G, Jordan-Yu JM, Corvi F, Invernizzi A, Ogura Y, Tan C, Mitchell P, Gupta V, Chhablani J, Chakravarthy U, Sadda SR, Wong TY, Staurenghi G, Lee WK. Polypoidal choroidal vasculopathy: consensus nomenclature and non-indocyanine green angiograph diagnostic criteria from the Asia-Pacific ocular imaging society PCV workgroup. Ophthalmology. 2021 Mar;128(3):443-452. doi: 10.1016/j.ophtha.2020.08.006.

3. Teo KYC, Bachmann LM, Sim D, Yen LS, Tan A, Wong TY, Cheung CMG, Tan GSW. Patterns and characteristics of a real-world implementation of a self-monitoring program for retina diseases during COVID-19 pandemic. Ophthalmol Retina. 2021 Feb 18:S2468-6530(21)00055-5. doi: 10.1016/j.oret.2021.02.005. Online ahead of print.

4. Fenner BJ*, Ting DSW*, Tan A, Teo K, Chan CM, Mathur R, Yeo I, Wong TY, Wong E, Cheung GCM. Real-world treatment outcomes of age-related macular degeneration and polypoidal choroidal vasculopathy in Asians. Ophthalmol Retina. 2020 Apr;4(4):403-414. doi: 10.1016/j.oret.2019.10.019.

5. Teo KYC, Nguyen V, Barthelmes D, Arnold JJ, Gillies MC, Cheung CMG. Extended intervals for wet AMD patients with high retreatment needs: informing the risk during COVID-19, data from real-world evidence. Eye (Lond). 2020 Nov 25:1-9. doi: 10.1038/s41433-020-01315-x. Online ahead of print.

6. Rim TH*, Ryo K*, Tham YC, Kang SW, Ruamviboonsuk P, Bikbov MM, Miyake M, Hao J, Fletcher A, Sasaki M, Nangia V, Sabanayagam C, Yu M, Fujiwara K, Thapa R, Wong IY, Kayama T, Chen SJ, Kuang TM, Yamashita H, Sundaresan P, Chan JC, van Rens GHMB, Sonoda KH, Wang YX, Panda-Jonas S, Harada S, Kim R, Ganesan S, Raman R, Yamashiro K, Gilmanshin TR, Jenchitr W, Park KH, Cheung CMG, Wong TY, Wang N, Jonas JB, Chakravarthy U, Cheng CY#, Yanagi Y#, Asian Eye Epidemiology Consortium. Prevalence and pattern of geographic atrophy in Asia: the Asian Eye Epidemiology Consortium. Ophthalmology. 2020 Oct;127(10):1371-1381. doi: 10.1016/j.ophtha.2020.04.019.

7. Man REK, Gan ATL, Fenwick EK, Teo KYC, Tan ACS, Cheung GCM, Teo ZL, Kumari N, Wong TY, Cheng CY, Lamoureux EL. Impact of incident age-related macular degeneration and associated vision loss on vision-related quality of life. Br J Ophthalmol. 2021 Feb 26:bjophthalmol-2020-318269. doi: 10.1136/bjophthalmol-2020-318269. Online ahead of print. 

8. Ho SY, Kwan YP, Qiu B, Tan A, Murray HL, Barathi VA, Tan NS, Cheung CMG, Wong TY, Wahli W, Wang X. Investigating the role of PPARβ/δ in retinal vascular remodeling using Pparβ/δ-deficient mice. Int J Mol Sci. 2020 Jun 20;21(12):E4403. doi: 10.3390/ijms21124403.

9. Sabanayagam C, Chee ML, Banu R, Cheng CY, Lim SC, Tai ES, Coffman T, Wong TY. Association of diabetic retinopathy and diabetic kidney disease with all-cause and cardiovascular mortality in a multiethnic Asian population. JAMA Netw Open. 2019 Mar 1;2(3):e191540. doi: 10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2019.1540.

10. Lim CC, Chee ML, Cheng CY, Kwek JL, Foo M, Wong TY, Sabanayagam C. Simplified end stage renal failure risk prediction model for the low-risk general population with chronic kidney disease. PLoS One. 2019 Feb 22;14(2):e0212590. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0212590. eCollection 2019.

11. Tan B, Chua J, Lin E, Cheng J, Gan A, Yao X, Wong DWK, Sabanayagam C, Wong D, Chan CM, Wong TY, Schmetterer L, Tan GS. Quantitative microvascular analysis with wide-field optical coherence tomography angiography in eyes with diabetic retinopathy. JAMA Netw Open. 2020 Jan 3;3(1):e1919469. doi: 10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2019.19469.

12. Cheung CY, Xu D, Cheng CY, Sabanayagam C, Tham YC, Yu M, Rim TH, Chai CY, Gopinath B, Mitchell P, Poulton R, Moffitt TE, Caspi A, Yam JC, Tham CC, Jonas JB, Wang YX, Song SJ, Burrell LM, Farouque O, Li LJ, Tan GSW, Ting DSW, Hsu W, Lee ML, Wong TY. A deep-learning system for the assessment of cardiovascular disease risk via the measurement of retinal-vessel calibre. Nat Biomed Eng. 2020 Oct 12. doi: 10.1038/s41551-020-00626-4. Online ahead of print.

13. Sabanayagam C, Xu D, Ting DSW, Nusinovici S, Banu R, Hamzah H, Lim C, Tham YC, Cheung CY, Tai ES, Wang YX, Jonas JB, Cheng CY, Lee ML, Hsu W, Wong TY. A deep learning algorithm to detect chronic kidney disease from retinal photographs in community-based populations. Lancet Digit Health. 2020 Jun;2(6):e295-e302. doi: 10.1016/S2589-7500(20)30063-7. Epub 2020 May 12.

14. Chua J, Le TT, Tan B, Ke M, Li C, Wong DWK, Tan ACS, Lamoureux E, Wong TY, Chin CWL, Schmetterer L. Choriocapillaris microvasculature dysfunction in systemic hypertension. Sci Rep. 2021 Feb 25;11(1):4603. doi: 10.1038/s41598-021-84136-6.
    

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