Alfredo Dubra, PhD
Assistant Professor of Ophthalmology
Assistant Professor of Biophysics
Phone: 414-955-8457
FAX: (414)955-6690
E-mail: adubra@mcw.edu
Address:
The Eye Institute
925 N. 87th St.
Milwaukee, WI. 53226
The main goal of the Dubra lab is to develop non-invasive optical imaging methods for early detection and monitoring of eye disease. We pursue a multidisciplinary approach, with a major focus on translating techniques and analytical tools from physics, astronomy and mathematics into robust quantitative diagnostic tools.
The ophthalmic adaptive optics instruments developed in our lab allow us to overcome the optical blur which limits the resolution of current clinical instruments. By correcting for this blur using the monochromatic aberrations of the eye, we are now able to study the retina non-invasively with unprecedented detail, resolving retinal cell mosaics such as those formed by the cone and rod photoreceptors and the retinal pigment epithelial cells. The ability to monitor retinal changes at the cellular level would greatly improve our ability to evaluate the efficacy of current and new treatments. We are also studying quantitative methods for interpreting the geometry of the cell mosaics, with the aim of developing metrics for detecting early signs of eye disease with both high sensitivity and specificity. Early and accurate diagnosing of retinal conditions is of paramount importance, given that the majority of retinal cells directly involved in vision do not reproduce.
Education
PhD, The Blackett Laboratory, Imperial College London, UK.
BS, Physics degree, Universidad de la República, Uruguay
Previous Appointments
2009 - 2011 Assistant Professor, Flaum Eye Institute, University of Rochester, USA.
2009 - 2011 Assistant Professor, Department of Biomedical Engineering, University of Rochester, USA.
Grants
2007 Career Award at the Scientific Interface, Burroughs Wellcome Fund, “Understanding eye disease through structural and functional in vivo cellular imaging of the retina.”
2000 Grant for Initiation in Research, CSIC, Uruguay, “Optical Sensors for monitoring environmental parameters.”
Professional Activities and Associations
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Reviewer for the following scientific journals:
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Nature
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American Journal of Physics
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Journal of the Optical Society of America A
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Applied Optics
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Optical Engineering
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Optics Letters
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Optics Express
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Optics Communications
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Ophthalmic and Physiological Optics
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Journal of the European Optical Society Rapid publications
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Optics & Laser Technology
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Clinical and Experimental Optometry
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Journal of Biomedical Optics
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Investigative Ophthalmology & Visual Science
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Biomedical Optics Express and Journal of Modern Optics
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Grant reviewer for The Wellcome Trust, UK and the North Carolina Biotechnology Center, USA
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Book reviewer for Contemporary Physics, published by Taylor and Francis, London, UK.
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Member of the Optical Society of America (OSA).
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Member of the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology (ARVO).
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ARVO annual meeting session moderator 2008, 2009 and 2010.
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Member of the Optical Society of America Vision and Colour Division subcommittee
Recent Publications
Dubis AM, Hansen BR, Cooper RF, Beringer J, Dubra A, Carroll J. Relationship between the Foveal Avascular Zone and Foveal Pit Morphology. Invest Ophthalmol Vis Sci. 2012 Mar 21;53(3):1628-36.
Stepien KE, Martinez WM, Dubis AM, Cooper RF, Dubra A, Carroll J. Subclinical photoreceptor disruption in response to severe head trauma. Arch Ophthalmol. 2012 Mar;130(3):400-2.
Sallo FB, Leung I, Chung M, Wolf-Schnurrbusch UE, Dubra A, Williams DR, Clemons T, Pauleikhoff D, Bird AC, Peto T; MacTel Study Group. Retinal crystals in type 2 idiopathic macular telangiectasia. Ophthalmology. 2011 Dec;118(12):2461-7.
Dubra A, and Sulai Y, “The reflective afocal broadband adaptive optics scanning ophthalmoscope,” Biomed. Opt. Express 2, 1757-1768 (2011).
Dubra A, Y Sulai, J.L. Norris, R.F. Cooper, A.M. Dubis, D.R. Williams and J. Carroll, "Noninvasive imaging of the human rod photoreceptor mosaic using a confocal adaptive optics scanning ophthalmoscope," Biomed. Opt. Express 2, 1864-1876 (2011).
R.F. Cooper, A.M. Dubis, A. Pavaskar, J. Rha, A. Dubra and J. Carroll, "Spatial and temporal variation of rod photoreceptor reflectance in the human retina," Biomed. Opt. Express 2, 2577-2589 (2011).
M.A. Genead, G.A. Fishman, J. Rha, A.M. Dubis, D.M.O. Bonci, A. Dubra, E.M. Stone, M. Neitz, Joseph Carroll, “Photoreceptor structure and function in patients with congenital achromatopsia,” Invest. Ophthalmol. Vis. Sci. (in press).
E.W. Dees, A. Dubra and R.C. Baraas, “Variability in parafoveal cone mosaic in normal trichromatic individuals,” Biomed. Opt. Express 2, 1351-1358 (2011).
F.B. Sallo, I. Leung, M. Chung, U. Wolf-Schnurrbusch, A. Dubra, D.R. Williams, T. Clemons, D. Pauleikhoff, A.C. Bird, T. Peto and the MacTel study group, “Retinal Crystals in Type 2 Idiopathic Macular Telangiectasia,” Ophthalmology (published online August 2011).
J.J. Hunter, B. Masella, A. Dubra, R Sharma, L. Yin, W.H. Merigan, G. Palczewska, K. Palczewski and D.R. Williams, “Images of photoreceptors in living primate eyes using adaptive optics two-photon ophthalmoscopy,” Biomedical Optics Express, 2(1), 139-148 (2011).
Y. Geng, L.A. Schery, R. Sharma, A. Dubra, K. Ahmad, R.T. Libby and D.R. Williams, "Optical properties of the mouse eye," Biomed. Opt. Express 2, 717-738 (2011).
E.A. Rossi, M. Chung, A. Dubra, J.J. Hunter, W.H. Merigan and D.R. Williams, “Imaging retinal mosaics in the living eye,” Eye, 25, 301-308 (2011).
M. Wagner-Schuman, A.M. Dubis, R.N. Nordgren, Y. Lei, D. Odell, H. Chiao, E. Weh, W. Fischer, Y. Sulai, A. Dubra, and J. Carroll, “Racial and gender Differences in Retinal Thickness and Foveal Pit Morphology,” Invest. Ophthalmol. Vis. Sci. 52(1), 625-634, (2011).
J.J. Hunter, B. Masella, A. Dubra, R Sharma, L. Yin, W.H. Merigan, G. Palczewska, K. Palczewski and D.R. Williams, “Images of photoreceptors in living primate eyes using adaptive optics two-photon ophthalmoscopy,” Biomedical Optics Express, 2(1), 139-148 (2011).
Dubra and Z. Harvey, “Registration of 2D Images from Fast Scanning Ophthalmic Instruments,” Lecture Notes in Computer Science, 6204, 60-71 (2010).
Gómez-Vieyra, A. Dubra, D. Malacara-Hernández, and D.R. Williams, “First-order design of off-axis reflective ophthalmic adaptive optics systems using afocal telescopes,” Opt. Exp. 17(21): 18906-18919, 2009.
Y. Geng, K.P. Greenberg, R. Wolfe, D.C. Gray, J. Hunter, A. Dubra, J.G. Flannery, D.R. Williams, and J. Porter, “In vivo imaging of microscopic structures in the rat retina,” Invest. Ophthalmol. Vis. Sci. 50(12): 5872-5879, 2009.
J. Morgan, A. Dubra, R. Wolfe, W. Merigan, and D.R. Williams, “In Vivo Autofluorescence Imaging of the Human and Macaque Retinal Pigment Epithelial Cell Mosaic,” Invest. Ophthalmol. Vis. Sci. 50(3): 1350-1359, 2008.
D.C. Gray, R. Wolfe, B.P. Gee, D. Scoles, Y. Geng, B.D. Masella, A. Dubra, S. Luque, D.R. Williams, and W.H. Merigan, “In vivo imaging of the fine structure of rhodamine-labeled macaque retinal ganglion cells,” Invest. Ophthalmol. Vis. Sci. 49(1): 467-473, 2008.
Dubra, "Wavefront sensor and wavefront corrector matching in adaptive optics," Opt. Exp. 15(6): 2762-2769, 2007.
D.C. Gray, W. Merigan, J.I. Wolfing, B.P. Gee, J. Porter, A. Dubra, T.H. Twietmeyer, K. Ahamd, R. Tumbar, F. Reinholz, and D.R. Williams, “In vivo fluorescence imaging of primate retinal ganglion cells and retinal pigment epithelial cells,” Opt. Exp. 14(16): 7144-7158, 2006.
Dubra, J.S. Massa, and C. Paterson, “Preisach classical and nonlinear modeling of hysteresis in piezoceramic deformable mirrors,” Opt. Exp. 13(22): 9062-9070, 2005.
Dubra, C. Paterson, and C. Dainty, “Double-lateral shearing interferometer for the quantitative measurement of the tear film topography,” App. Opt. 44(7): 1191-1199, 2005.
Dubra, C. Paterson, and C. Dainty, “Study of the tear topography dynamics using a lateral shearing interferometer,” Opt. Exp. 12(25): 6278-6288, 2004.
Dubra, C. Paterson, and C Dainty, “Wavefront reconstruction from shear phase maps using the discrete Fourier transform,” App. Opt. 43(5): 1108-1113, 2004.
J.A. Ferrari and A. Dubra. “Axial irradiance distribution throughout the whole space behind an annular aperture: comments,” App. Opt. 42(19): 3754, 2003.