Program

Hotel Shore

Program for the 10th International Conference on the Lens (ICL) December 7-12, 2025

This conference provides lens researchers with the unique opportunity to meet in a casual atmosphere to exchange the latest breakthroughs in lens research and establish collaborations over meals, while also enjoying the many wonderful activities available in Kona, Hawaii.

The scientific program for the 10th ICL is being spearheaded by Dr Steven Bassnett of the Washington University School of Medicine in St Louis, Missouri and Dr. Kevin L. Schey, of the Vanderbilt University Department of Biochemistry in Nashville, Tennessee

Click here for a copy of the 2022 ICL Program Booklet

Click here for a copy of the 2023 ICL Program Booklet

2025 10th ICL Preliminary Meeting

Special Presentations:

Plenary Lecture  Sönke Johnson,  Ida Stephens Owens Distinguished Professor of Biology, Trinity College of Arts & Sciences, Duke University, Durham, NC.

Cataract Research Award

The Kinoshita Lectureship

 

Planned Sessions (Organizers):

Lens Development & Regeneration (Kelly Tseng & Mason Posner)

Lens Differentiation (Amer Riazzudin  & Salil Lachke)

Lens Optics (Barbara Pierscionek & Kehao Wang)

Genetics of Cataract (Elena Semina)

Crystallin Modifications & Cataractogenesis (Eugene Serebryany & Kirsten Lampi)

Molecular Aging in Lens and non-Lens Tissues (Kevin Schey & Roger Truscott)

No Lens is an Island – Lens Biochemistry in Context (Steve Bassnett)

Lens Membranes & Physiology (Tom White & Paul Donaldson)

Lens Cell Biology & Matrix (Cathy Cheng & TJ Plageman)

Lens Clinical Studies (Hiroshi Sasaki & Eri Kubo)

PCO, Fibrosis & EMT (Janice Walker & Michael Wormstone)

Lens Signaling (Xin Zhang and David Li)

Redox Biology & Cataract (Xingjun Fan & Julie Lim)

Structural Biology & Biophysics (Tamir Gonen)

A group of people standing in front of trees.

The meeting was attended by 85 Scientists from Australia, Canada, China, England, Japan, Mexico, New Zealand, and the United States. 

Final Social and Scientific Program ICL 2025

3:00 PM - 5 PM
Registration

5:00 PM - 7:00 PM
Welcome Reception

7:00 PM – 8:30 PM
Recognition of Cataract Research Award and Travel Award Recipients
Invited Lecture Peter Kador (Organizer)
Pawan Sinha (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) "How Restoration of Vision through Cataract Surgery in Children Reveals How Vision Works in the Brain".

8:30 AM – 10:00 AM
Session 1: Lens Development/Xin Zhang (Organizer), Xiangjia Zhu (Co-moderator)

  • Xin Zhang (Columbia Univ.)
  • Mason Posner (Ashland Univ.)
  • Yanzhong Hu (Henan Univ.)
  • Sara Coomson (Univ. Delaware)
  • Xiangjia Zhu (Fudan Univ.)

10:00 AM – 10:30 AM
Short Break: Tea/Coffee

10:30 AM – 12:00 PM
Session 2: Lens Cell Biology and Matrix Biology/Cathy Cheng (Organizer), Julie Lim (Co-moderator)

  • Cathy Cheng (Indiana Univ.),
  • Rosica Petrova (Univ. Auckland)
  • Steve Bassnett (Washington Univ.)
  • Qian Wag (Columbia Univ.)
  • TJ Plageman (The Ohio State Univ.)

12:00 PM – 1:15 PM
Break: Lunch

1:15 PM – 2:45 PM
Session 3: Omics Approaches in Lens Research/Marc Kantorow, Ales Cvekl (Organizers, Co-moderators)

  • Salil Lachke (Univ. Delaware)
  • Ales Cvekl (Albert Einstein Univ.)
  • Shiwali Goyal (National Eye Institute, NIH)
  • Marc Kantorow (Florida Atlantic Univ.)
  • Xue-Bin Hu (Sun Yat-sen Univ.)

2:45 PM – 3:00 PM
Short Break: Tea/Coffee

3:00 PM – 4:30 PM
Session 4: Function and Homeostasis of Crystallins/Krishna Sharma (Organizer), John Clark (Co-moderator)

  • John Clark (Univ. Washington)
  • Sayan Ghosh (Univ. Pittsburgh)
  • Hassane Mchaourab (Vanderbilt Univ.)
  • Laxman Mainali (Boise State Univ.)
  • Krishna Sharma (Univ. Missouri)

4:30 PM – 5:30 PM
Poster Session

6:00 PM
Luau dinner and show

8:30 AM – 10:00 AM
Session 5: Lens Fiber Differentiation and Autophagy/Amer Riazuddin (Organizer), Quili Fu (Co-moderator)

  • Amer Riazuddin (Johns Hopkins Univ.)
  • Velia Fowler (Univ. Delaware)
  • Lilly Gonzales (washington Univ.)
  • Sanjaya Shrestha (Univ. Delaware)     
  •  Ichiro Masai (Okinawa Univ.)

10:00 AM – 10:30 AM
Short Break: Tea/Coffee

10:30 AM – 12:00 PM
Session 6: Lens Physiology and Channel Proteins/Tom White, Paul Donaldson (Organizers, Co-moderators)

  • Tom White (Stony Brook Univ.)
  • Paul Donaldson (Univ. Auckland) 
  • Nick Delamere (Univ. Arizona)
  • Kevin Schey (Vanderbilt Univ.)

12:00 PM – 1:15 PM
Break: Lunch

1:15 PM – 2:45 PM                                Session 7: Physiological Optics and Biomechanics of the Lens/Matthew Reilly, Bianca Heilman (Organizers, Co-moderators)

  • Matthew Reilly (The Ohio State Univ.)
  • Bianca Heilman (Univ. Miami),
  • Susana Marcos (Univ. Rochester)
  • Pooja Rathaur (Washington Univ.)
  • Christian Delgado (Univ. Houston)

2:45 PM – 3:00 PM
Short Break: Tea/Coffee

3:00 PM – 4:30 PM
Session 8: Biochemistry and Biophysics of Crystallins/Eugene Serebryany (Organizer)

  • Eugene Serebryany (Stony Brook Univ.)
  • Jiayue Sun (Kyoto Univ.)   
  • Daisuka Sasaki (Kyoto Univ.) 
  • Liliana Quintanar (Cinvestav, Mexico)
  • Ariel Alperstein (Univ. Delaware)

8:30 AM – 10:00 AM
Session 9: Lens Regeneration and Cross-Talk/Katia Del-Rio Tsonis (Organizer)

  • Jared Tangeman (Miami Univ.)
  • Kelly Tseng (Univ. Nevada)
  • Constantinos Sousounis (Univ. New Hampshire)
  • Katia Del-Rio Tsonis (Miami Univ.)
  • Sepideh Cheheltani (Univ. Delaware)

10:00 AM – 10:30 AM
Short Break: Tea/Coffee

10:30 AM – 12:00 PM
Session 10: Lens Fibrosis and EMT/Janice Walker (Organizer), Eri Kubo (Co-moderator)

  • Janice Walker (Thomas Jefferson Univ.)
  • Eri Kubo (Kanazawa Medical Univ.)
  • Bo Ma (Univ. Texas)
  • Suhotro Gorai (Univ. Delaware)
  • Heather Sheardown (McMaster Univ.)

Afternoon Free / Golf Tournament

8:30 AM – 10:00 AM
Session 11: Lens Genetics and Cataract/Elena Semina (Organizer) Fielding Hejtmancik (Comoderator)

  • Fielding Hejtmancik (National Eye Insititute, NIH)
  • Hélène Choquet (Kaiser Permanente-CA),
  • Elena Semina (Medical College of Wisconsin)
  • Jia-Ling Fu (Sun Yat-sen Univ.)
  • Johanna Jones (Univ. of Tasmania),

10:00 AM – 10:30 AM
Short Break: Tea/Coffee

10:30 AM – 12:00 PM
Session 12: Biology of the Aging Lens and Redox Biology/Xingjun Fan (Organizer), Rachel Martin (Co-moderator)

  • Marjorie Lou (Univ. Nebraska)
  • Rachel Martin (Univ. California-Irvine)
  • Julie Lim (Univ. Aukland)
  • Lee Goldstein (Boston Univ.)
  • X. Fan (Augusta Univ.)

12:00 PM – 1:15 PM
Break: Lunch

1:15 PM – 2:45 PM                              Session 13: Lens Pathology and Regulatory Pathways/Vasanth Rao (Organizer), Melinda Duncan (Co-moderator)

  • Alan Shiels (Washington Univ.)
  • David Li (Sun Yat-sen Univ.)
  • Peter Huynh (Indiana Univ.)
  • Melinda Duncan (Univ. Delaware)
  • Vasanth Rao (Duke Univ.)

2:45 PM – 3:00 PM
Short Break: Tea/Coffee

3:00 PM – 4:30 PM
Session 14: Lens Clinical Studies and Treatment/Hiroshi Sasaki, Hiroyuki Matsushima (Organizers, Co-moderators)

  • Natsuko Hatsusaka (Kanazawa Medical Univ.) 
  • Norihiro Watanabe (Nippon Medical School)
  • Shinichiro Kobayakawa (Nippon Medical School) 
  • Hiroyuki Matsushima (Dokkyo Medical Univ.)
  • Mayumi Nagata (Dokkyo Medical Univ.)

5:30 PM – 6:30 PM
The Kinoshita Lecture

  • Fielding Hejmancik

6:30 PM – 7:00 PM
Cocktails

7:00 PM                                         Conference Banquet

8:30 AM – 10:00 AM
Session 15: Pharmacological Approaches to Lens Disease/Vincent Monnier (Organizer) Barbara Pierscionek (Co-moderator)

  • Barbara Pierscionek (Anglia Ruskin University)   
  • Gus Grey (Univ. Auckland)
  • Vincent Monnier (Case Western Reserve Univ.)
  • Juliet Moncaster (Boston Univ.) 
  • Peter Kador (Therapeutic Vision, Inc. and Univ. Nebraska Medical Center)

10:00 AM 
Closing Remarks and Depart