EVER newsletter
April 19, 2006

June 1: Abstract submission deadline - posters, free papers and SIS
July 21: Final Programme online - Abstract notification
August 15: Housing deadline
September 1: Early registration deadline
October 4-7: EVER 2006 Annual Meeting

All members are reminded to renew their membership in good time for the Abstract deadline on June 1st. This can be done easily through the web site. Members benefit from a lower preferential registration fee for the annual congress as well as privaliged access to areas of the EVER website.

The new official EVER journal is Acta Ophthalmologica Scandinavica (AOS).


We have great pleasure in announcing that from April1, 2006 EVER has an official journal. The electronic version of the journal is free to EVER members and provides a vehicle for members to express an independent opinion on matters related to ophthalmic research. It will allow EVER members to keep up to date on the latest trends in clinical and experimental ophthalmic research and provide an opportunity for members to publish their research in a highly respected European journal. EVER members also have the benefit of one free colour page (if needed) per scientific paper published in AOS.

The program of the EVER annual meeting and the abstracts will be published in our journal. There will be an Acta keynote lecture during the annual meeting.

The need for an official journal has been discussed within the EVER board since the birth of our association. More recently, the board has very carefully analysed proposals from several European journals and during the last annual meeting, the board decided to explore the possibility of an agreement with AOS.
An important advantage of AOS is that it is owned by a non-profit association administered by a board, of which EVER will have two members. AOS has announced the intention to drop Scandinavica in its name to give the journal a more European profile.

We warmly invite all of you to submit your manuscripts for publication in our journal.

The official journal can be accessed through the EVER website.

Per Söderberg and Amanda Churchill
EVER-Acta Board Representatives

Don't leave it to the last minute! This years EVER Congress promises to be better and more stimulating than ever (!) so we encourage you all to avoid that last minute stress and enter your abstracts in good time. All abstract submission to be sent to EVER by June 1st. No more than 2 first author abstracts per person and a member can be first author on only one free paper abstract.

Early Registration ends on 1st September and all of you who are planning to attend are strongly encouraged to register early. It is also important to consider housing and transport, details of which are all on the EVER website.

Three Scientific Sections have been awarded 1000 EUR a section as sponsorship towards the costs of their section SIS. The winning Sections are:

Molecular biology & Neuro-ophthalmology [SIS title: Mitochondria in eye disease: pathophysiology and mechanisms/ cell biology]
Pathology [SIS title: Eyelid tumours]
Physiology / Pharmacology / Biochemistry [SIS title: Mechanisms of action of neuroprotective factors in retina]

Congratulations go to them all! There were a number of excellent entries and the competition proved a great success.

We are honored and delighted this year to be able to host Professor Paul Sieving, the Director of The National Eye Institute, Bethesda, USA, will give the ACTA Lecture: The Interplay of Clinical and Basic Knowledge in X-linked Retinoschisis.

Professor Eric De Clercq, Leuven, Belgium, will give the AER Lecture, entitled: Antivirals for viral eye infections. The EVER Lecture this year will be given by Professor Nicholas Galloway, Nottingham, UK, on the subject: The Evolution of Electrical Responses from the Eye. The Ophthalmic Research Lecture will be given by Narsing Rao, Los Angeles, USA, on Photoreceptor Mitochondrial Oxidative Stress in Experimental Uveitis.

Other internationally renowned and respected Key Note speakers this year are Professor Anthony Moore, Londen, UK, and Professor Charlotte Remé, Zurich, Switzerland, and Professor Jialing Zhao, President of the Chinese Ophthalmological Society.

EVER is delighted to announce a new affiliation in 2006 with EPOS and included in this years' EVER Meeting programme will be an EPOS SIS, Chaired by Professor Birgit Lorenz, to be held on Thursday 5th October (14.00-15.30) on Diagnostic and therapeutic advances in paediatric retinal diseases. We are delighted to welcome EPOS to EVER and hope that the paediatric ophthalmologists amongst you will find this a valuable addition to the programme. EVER does not have a paediatric ophthalmology section per se and therefore this SIS will have a significant impact on the Congress Programme. The EPOS SIS also gives us the opportunity to welcome Professor Tony Moore, an internationally recognised academic paediatric ophthalmologist, as a keynote lecturer.

A reminder to all of you who are planning to attend the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology Meeting (ARVO) that EVER has an increased presence this year and we ask you for your support. Why not come along to visit the EVER@ARVO Booth and bring your US colleagues and collaborators?


There is also a Special symposium scheduled to take place in the ARVO programme, designed to stimulate international interest in EVER and European Vision Research in general. The session will facilitate trans-atlantic cross-talk and we especially hope that this will encourage younger vision scientists to make the leap and consider a period of research in an European lab.

Dr Amanda Churchill, who is speaking about what Europe can offer in terms of research opportunities believes: "we can learn and achieve a great deal by collaborating with others and make lifelong friends in the process".

A highlight of 30th World Ophthalmology Conference in Sao Paolo on 19-24th February 2006 was the EVER session providing a brief tour in European scientific arena.
During this potpourri entitled Current European Eye Research: Basic and Clinical Sciences, Tero Kivelä, from Finland, President of EVER, gave background information concerning the history of EVER. He also spoke on Visual Function in Index Vf-14: Rasch Analysis. Ivan Haefliger from Switzerland, delivered a talk on Non-Conventional Aqueous Humor Outflow after Non-Perforating Sclerectomy and Pinar Aydin, from Turkey explained the newest techniques in Visual Field Analysis, namely pupil perimetry and rarebit perimetry.
The session was co-chaired by Maria de Lourdes V.Rodrigues, Tero Kivelä and Ivan Haefliger.

Elections are being held for a Section Chair for the Sections:

- Immunology / Microbiology
- Physiology / Biochemistry / Pharmacology

Have you cast your vote? Votings are now open at the EVER website. All EVER Members are encouraged to attend the Section Meetings at Vilamoura and bring along younger members or researchers.