Among the undisputed highlights at DOG 2025 in Berlin are the Keynote Lectures. Three highly ranking experts will dedicate their 30-minute talks to topics of importance not only to ophthalmology but to medicine and society in general.
Keynote Lecture
Thursday, 26 September 2025, 11:45-12:15
Von Graefe Lecture: Cornea (transplantation): Making the blind see
Claus Cursiefen (Cologne, Germany)
Corneal transplantation is particularly fascinating because it can restore sight to people becoming blind. And although it is the oldest and most successful form of transplantation in the history of medicine, the surgical and medical treatment options have once again improved in an almost (r)evolutionary way in recent years. There are currently many new developments in the fields of cell therapy, stem cell transplantation, drug therapy and selective artificial corneal replacements. There are also innovative therapeutic approaches, such as UVA crosslinking, to prevent immune reactions after high-risk transplantation, the second most common cause of blindness worldwide.
Claus Cursiefen has been serving as Director of the Department of Ophthalmology at University Hospital Cologne since 2011. He specialises in diseases of the anterior segment of the eye. Cursiefen has further developed various corneal transplantation procedures, discovered new methods for avoiding immune reactions and is also researching immunological processes in inflammatory eye diseases. Since 2023, he has been the spokesperson for the SFB 1607 on age-related blind eye diseases. He is on the board of the Center for Molecular Medicine in Cologne, Vice-President Research at the University of Cologne and has led various EU research projects, was a review board member of the German Research Foundation (DFG) and has been Secretary General of the German Ophthalmological Society (DOG) since 2020. Prof. Cursiefen has published more than 600 articles and is a member of the German National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina.
Keynote Lecture
Friday, 27 September 2025,11:45-12:15
On Phenotypes, Genotypes & Genetic Therapies in Inherited Retinal Disorders
Bart P. Leroy, (Ghent, Belgium)
Since 1990, over 300 genes have been implicated in the pathogenesis of inherited retinal disorders (IRDs). High-throughput molecular genetic screening now allows for the underlying genotype to be elucidated in a majority of IRD patients. The advent of genetic therapies promises to save vision in them. But how to deal with the developmental hurdles for over 300 genes? This talk will address the current state of affairs in retinal genetics.
Keynote Lecture
Saturday, 28 September 2025, 11:45-12:15
Imaging the Vitreous with OCT. A New Frontier
Richard F. Spaide, (New York, USA)
Optical coherence tomography (OCT) started as a revolutionary method to examine the retina. Cross-sectional OCT images show remarkable detail, many times approaching the resolution of light microscopy. With the advent of swept source and enhanced depth imaging spectral domain OCT, cross sectional images of the choroid were possible. The vitreous is a difficult structure in the eye to image. It is engineered to be transparent, and understanding the vitreous interactions with the retina requires 3-dimensional imaging, not just cross-sections. Newer swept source OCTs have larger imaging depths and high enough speed to allow sufficient acquisition of 3-dimensional blocks of data. With image processing, this data can be displayed in 3-dimensional images, affording views of the vitreous not possible before. Some of the images are quite beautiful. From this imaging we can learn about the structure of the vitreous in health and disease in ways that are not possible with histology.
Richard F. Spaide, MD, is a specialist in diseases of the retina and vitreous. He developed autofluorescence imaging using a fundus camera, created the first practical method to image deeper structures in the eye with optical coherence tomography and invented a system of instruments for vitrectomy surgery to improve procedures. He has published more than 400 articles in peer-reviewed journals, 60 book chapters and review monographs, and edited several books. His current research interests include multimodal imaging, optical coherence tomography angiography, and new computer-based rendering techniques to visualize retinal anatomy. Spaide is on medical boards of a number of institutions * and has been mentioned in multiple Who’s Who and Best Doctors lists. He is a past executive editor of the American Journal of Ophthalmology and currently associate editor of the journal Retina. He is recipient of numerous awards and has given lectures around the world. Richard Spaide is in private practice at the Vitreous, Retina, Macula Consultants of New York, where he continues his research and clinical work.