World leaders in eye treatments and imaging came together in Pittsburgh to share advances in their disciplines at the i2Eye Conference, which was hosted in September by the University of Pittsburgh Department of Ophthalmology, the UPMC Vision Institute and world-renowned institutions in Paris.
The sixth meeting of the conference reinforced the relationship among vision leaders in Pittsburgh and Paris and laid the groundwork for further collaboration. It drew nearly 140 scientists, clinicians, engineers and trainees, mostly from Pitt, UPMC and Institut de la Vision in Paris, but also from other institutions in Europe and North America.
“These investigators coming from different fields rarely gather in this way,” says José-Alain Sahel, Distinguished Professor, Eye and Ear Foundation Professor and ophthalmology chair. Sahel is also the UPMC Vision Institute director and former founding director of Institut de la Vision in Paris. “The engineers developing new technologies seldom have opportunity for direct interactions with the clinicians that may eventually use their tools to study diseases or test the efficacy of new treatments. This conference allows for those focused interdisciplinary discussions to take place.”
The three-day conference was held at UPMC Mercy Pavilion, which opened in 2023. The facility houses the new UPMC Vision Institute and research space for Pitt faculty in ophthalmology. With clinicians and researchers under one roof, the Vision Institute allows for new, advanced treatments—like the gene therapies Sahel has pioneered—to reach patients with visual impairments more rapidly and seamlessly.
The i2Eye conference aims to accelerate the pace of ophthalmologic innovation through potential new scientific collaborations, building on a partnership forged seven years ago. In 2017, spurred by Sahel’s recruitment to Pitt, the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine entered into an agreement with Institut de la Vision to focus on collaborative research and education in the fields of medicine and biomedical sciences.
The agreement was supported by three world-renowned French research institutions: the Université Pierre et Marie Curie of the Sorbonne Universities in Paris, the Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale (Inserm), and the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS).
The first iteration of what became i2Eye took place the following year. The 2024 conference was the first to be held in Pittsburgh, and the plan is to alternate between Pittsburgh and Paris, according to Ethan Rossi, associate professor of ophthalmology at Pitt and one of the event’s organizers.
“The only way to [maintain a] strong relationship is to meet and meet again repeatedly on both sides in France and the U.S.,” says Christophe Baudouin, director of University Hospital Institute FOReSIGHT, a vision research project created by the Sorbonne University, Inserm and the Quinze-Vingts National Ophthalmology Hospital in France.
Topics at i2Eye’s sessions included glaucoma and optic nerve imaging, therapies for retinal degeneration, ocular immunology and inflammation, imaging of retinal structure and function and more. To highlight the latest abilities of ocular imaging, the event also featured an exhibition of images from the Pitt ophthalmology community.
Attendees like Kiyoko Gocho, an ophthalmologist from Institut de la Vision who collaborates with Rossi, appreciated the opportunity to meet with international research partners in-person. “We are very happy to see the old team and to present our results together,” she says.
—Kelsey Muchnok contributed reporting.