The Visual and Physiological Optics (VPO) conference brings together technical experts in eye research every two years. This was our first time attending VPO as a team. We enjoyed three very packed days in Cartagena (Spain), while reconnecting with old colleagues and meeting new ones.
We took the chance to present our latest work on OCT speckle, keratoconus detection, and scleral shape, with two oral and two poster presentations. In the order of the meeting program:
- Juan Casado-Moreno, PhD student, gave an oral talk “Localized Abnormality Delineation from Tissue-Derived Corneal Maps for Early Detection and Staging of Keratoconus.”
- Sara Ferrer-Altabás, postdoc, presented a poster,“Assessing OCT Speckle Analysis Repeatability Across Acquisition Conditions in Exploratory and Clinical Datasets.”
- Laura Remón, senior researcher, could not attend due to her vice-dean duties, so we presented her poster, “Ethnicity-Dependent Trends in the Relationship Between Axial Length and Anterior Scleral Geometry.”
- Alejandra Consejo, PI, gave an oral talk, “What Does OCT Speckle Measure? Insights from Confocal Microscopy and Spectrophotometry.”
Judging by the pictures below, one could think we skipped many sessions to enjoy Cartagena. We didn’t; we just came back home severely sleep-deprived, but with the feeling that it was worth it, and realizing that staying one extra night when there is no way to get home on the evening the conference ends is actually not that bad.
From top left, clockwise: a) Visiting Cartagena’s Roman Theatre; b) enjoying the nightlife with Fran Ávila and Fran Torcal, professors from our Applied Physics Department and colleagues from the TOL (Tecnologías Ópticas Láser) research group at Unizar; c) We have a soft spot for biking, and the Mar Menor salt flats are so close to Cartagena that we couldn’t miss the chance; d) Surprisingly, mud baths are quite popular in the area. No further comments.
