Characterising Immune Cell Function in the Retina with Advanced Imaging

The immune system is central to almost every aspect of human health and disease, with tissues accepted as the determinative site of immune cell function.

Biopsies have provided valuable insight but remain static snapshots that miss the critical temporal dynamics of immune responses.

The ultimate aspiration would be to observe real-time, unperturbed, immune cell behaviour deep within the tissues of patients.

The eye can realise this goal, as the transparent ocular tissues are inherently suited for repeated in vivo imaging across time.

I discovered offset-aperture adaptive optics scanning laser ophthalmoscopy (AOSLO) allowed label-free, non-invasive imaging of individual immune cells within the mouse retina.

This project will apply the approach to man for the first time, pioneered in patients with retinal inflammation (Uveitis).

Achieving this would transform patient care through improved diagnosis and monitoring, alongside unprecedented opportunities to study fundamental human immunobiology.

To interpret the offset-aperture characteristics of recorded immune cell subsets, I will establish the first mouse AOSLO platform in the UK.

These intravital recordings will be directly correlated to ex vivo immunohistochemistry using a highly multiplexed technique I recently developed (3D-IBEX). This technique will be further employed to construct the first 3D human retina atlas of health and disease.