Centre for Contact Lens Research

Paper ranked in “Top 6 Articles in Ophthalmology”

cclr — Sat, 13 Apr 2013 00:30:05 +0000

Congratulations to Kathy Dumbleton, whose paper, “The Impact of Contemporary Contact Lenses on Contact Lens Discontinuation” (Eye and Contact Lens 2013. 39(1):93-99) was highlighted as one of the “Top 6 Articles in Ophthalmology” by Lippincott, Williams & Wilkins.

The article describes a study that was conducted to determine whether new contact lens materials and designs have impact the contact lens dropout rate and reasons for discontinuation. Read more here.

CCLR Graduate Student wins 3MT competition

cclr — Sat, 13 Apr 2013 00:16:32 +0000

Congratulations to graduate student, Chau-Minh Phan, for winning both first place and the People’s Choice award at the university-wide Three-Minute Thesis (3MT) Competition. The 3MT is a university-wide competition in which competitors are invited to use only one slide to present their thesis in three minutes. It began at the University of Queensland, Australia, in 2008. The competition made its debut in Canada at the University of British Columbia in 2011, and was hosted by 17 Canadian universities this year. Chau competed against 170 competitors across six faculties.

For his PhD, Chau-Minh is designing a hydrogel contact lens material capable of sustaining the release of antifungal drugs into the eye, by “packaging” the drugs into nanoparticles before loading them onto the contact lens. As he explained in his presentation,

This process is similar to sending an item through the mail. You can’t just send the item without first packaging it in a suitable container, in this case nanoparticles. This way, your item is easier to deliver, won’t get damaged on the way, and will likely get to where it wants to go.

Drug-releasing contact lenses are not a new concept, but it has been a challenge to develop a material capable of continuously releasing drugs into the eye over a sustained period of days or even weeks. The use of therapeutic eye drops to treat the front of the eye is not optimal, as the liquid is quickly washed away by tears, necessitating their re-instillation on an hourly basis.

This competition gave Chau-Minh a chance to explain his work to an incredibly diverse audience of students and faculty—enough of a challenge without the added pressure of this particular competition. As Phan explained,

Three minutes is not a lot of time to say anything. Every word out of my mouth had to be meaningful, captivating and delivered with pitch-perfect timing and meaningful hand gestures.” He went on to explain, “One fatal ‘um’ can mean the difference between winning and losing—particularly stressful for a person like myself, with a stuttering condition”.

Congratulations, Chau-Minh. You’ve made the School of Optometry and Vision Science very proud. Good luck at the provincial round of competition in Kingston, this April!

Ask the Experts

cclr — Thu, 21 Mar 2013 08:03:50 +0000

From 570 News’ “Ask the Experts”, listen to Dr. Debbie Jones as she talks about the CCLR, children in contact lenses and myopia control studies (aired December 15, 2012) or listen to Dr. Lyndon Jones as he talks about the CCLR and dry eye research (aired December 22, 2012).

Contact Lens Update

cclr — Fri, 08 Mar 2013 18:21:32 +0000

ContactLensUpdate.com is an online resource for eye care practitioners produced by the Centre for Contact Lens Research. Visit us regularly for insights into current research and updated patient and practitioner resources.

Daily disposable contact lens study (NANAIMO)

cclr — Wed, 15 Aug 2012 13:50:28 +0000

If you have been invited to take part in the NANAIMO study, and have a study code from your eye care practitioner, please click here: cclrstudy.uwaterloo.ca

If you live in Norway and would like to take part in the study, please click here: cclrstudy.uwaterloo.ca/Norway

Join Our Team of Research Participants

cclr — Thu, 15 Mar 2012 16:34:47 +0000

Study participants receive $20 per hour. Time commitment varies from study to study. All studies conducted by the CCLR have received ethics clearance through the Office of Research Ethics at the University of Waterloo.

Centre for Contact Lens Research

cclr — Mon, 16 Jan 2012 15:56:05 +0000

Welcome to the website of the CCLR

Dr. Desmond Fonn, Distinguished Professor Emeritus

cclr — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 00:34:47 +0000

The CCLR is pleased to announce that Dr. Desmond Fonn, Founding Director of the CCLR, has received the honour of becoming a Distinguished Professor Emeritus at the University of Waterloo, in recognition of his contributions to contact lens research, his philanthropic activities and his outstanding record of service to both the university and the academic community.

Contact Lens Update

cclr — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 18:18:59 +0000

The CCLR would like to invite you to visit Contact Lens Update, a website dedicated to presenting current research findings within the context of best practices for clinical care.