Glaucoma Advanced Imaging Laboratory

Laboratory Director: Kouros Nouri-Mahdavi, MD, MS
Research Coordinator: Sepideh Heydar Zadeh, MS

The Glaucoma Advanced Imaging Laboratory was recently funded by the National Institutes of Health to enroll a second cohort of patients with central or advanced glaucoma damage and a group of normal subjects to optimize methods being developed in our lab for timely detection of glaucoma progresssion. Once enrolled, patients/subjects are expected to be tested every 6 months for a duration of 5 years. Please contact the study coordinator, Sepideh Heydar Zadeh, MS, at mailto:sheydarzadeh@mednet.ucla.edu for further information and possible enrollment. You do not have to be a patient at the Stein Eye Institute to participate. Normal subjects would have no history of eye diseases and normal eyesight.

Mission

The Glaucoma Advanced Imaging Laboratory (GAIL) at Stein Eye Institute is actively engaged in research on the mechanisms and patterns of glaucoma damage. The focus of interest of the research group is to optimize detection of early glaucoma, and more importantly, to identify early signs of disease deterioration so that timely treatment can be implemented. Of special interest is detection of glaucoma patients who are worsening rapidly so they can receive the appropriate treatment required to prevent blindness.

Imaging of the optic nerve head, the retinal nerve fibers converging towards the optic nerve, and the inner layers of the central retina (the macula) is now possible with state of the art technology called Optical Coherence Tomography. This technique, developed in early 1990s, has undergone significant improvements over time and has become an indispensable method for the detection of glaucoma and its progression in patients.

The long-term overarching goal of the Glaucoma Advanced Imaging Laboratory at Stein Eye Institute is to enhance and optimize our current approaches to analysis of OCT images for detection of glaucoma and its deterioration. One of the specific goals of GAIL at the Stein Eye Institute is to improve detection of disease worsening in advanced stages of glaucoma. These are eyes with significant damage due to glaucoma that have a small remaining reserve of retinal ganglion cells. Any improvement in our diagnostic approaches to this group of patients would be a significant step towards reducing visual disability and blindness around the world.

Contact Information

All inquiries need to be addressed to
Sepideh Heydarzadeh, MS
Research coordinator
Phone: (310) 794-1487
Email: SHeydarZadeh@mednet.ucla.edu

Location Address 
Glaucoma Division
UCLA Stein Eye Institute
2nd Floor, 100 Stein Plaza, UCLA
Los Angeles, CA 90095