Vision Research:
eye-opening discovery
Foundation-supported scientists make international headlines

Contributions to Barrow Neurological Foundation make possible many neuroscience research projects that otherwise might never get off the ground. In August, the importance of such contributions became abundantly clear when Scientific American, the world’s most circulated lay science magazine, hit newsstands across the globe.

A huge green eye dominated the magazine’s cover, highlighting an article written by Barrow vision researchers Susana Martinez- Conde, PhD, and Stephen Macknik, PhD, about their research into tiny involuntary eye movements called microsaccades. Their groundbreaking research was conducted at Barrow and received funding from Barrow Neurological Foundation (BNF) and the Health & Wealth Raffle.

For scientists like Drs. Martinez-Conde and Macknik, it was like “being on the cover of Rolling Stone”—in other words, it was a very big deal.

“We were so thrilled at having a Scientific American article at all,” says Dr. Martinez-Conde. “It never even crossed our minds that we would be on the cover.”

 

Ending a 50-year debate

The article, “Windows on the Mind,” caps 10 years of research that the duo has conducted on microsaccades and describes a recent discovery that settles a 50-year debate over the importance, or lack thereof, of these involuntary eye movements.

“This project probably wouldn’t have happened without BNF support,” says Dr. Macknik. “The support we have received here has been better than what we would have received at Harvard [where the two conducted post-doctorate research from 1997-2001]. Science funding has gone way down, so it’s very difficult to get government grants. The Foundation has been very supportive, making sure we can go at full speed.”

Eye researchers have long sought to solve the question of the purpose of microsaccades, but until now, no one had been able to prove whether the tiny movements are vital to vision or are simply useless tics.

Drs. Martinez-Conde and Macknik’s research into the question began when they met in the Harvard Medical School laboratory of David Hubel, PhD, who won the Nobel Prize for research on the visual system in 1981. At the end of their studies, they both received job offers from the University College London, UK, and continued their research there.

The breakthrough ‘Aha!’

A match made in the lab Susana Martinez-Conde, PhD, and Stephen Macknik, PhD, first met in 1997 in the Harvard Medical School laboratory of David Hubel, MD. She is a native of Spain, while he hails from California. For five years they were collaborators and friends, but nothing more. Both were hesitant to even consider dating. “We were concerned that it might not work out and might hurt our collaboration,” says Dr. Martinez-Conde.      Finally, in early 2002, the two decided to give dating a try. Nine months later they were married.      Science was the launching pad of their relationship and still serves them well, both say.“Science is great,” says Dr. Macknik. “It’s a lifestyle more than a job. It drives our curiosity. It’s the basis of most of our conversations, not just about our work, but about other science as well. We read lay science books about physics, psychology, evolution and other things, and we discuss them all the time.”     The couple have a ten-month-old son, Iago Macknik-Conde.

But it was not until after the researchers had relocated to Barrow in 2004 that they experienced a breakthrough in their research into microsaccades.“That was a great day,” says Dr. Macknik. “We were on Thomas Road going west, and Susana thought of the primary experiment as we were just getting on I-17 north, and that’s what we talked about the rest of that afternoon.”

Dr. Martinez-Conde also has vivid memories of that day. “We both realized what it meant and that if it worked we would provide a direct demonstration for the first time that microsaccades are necessary for visual perception.”

Coming up with the experiment was key, says Dr. Macknik. “In science if there’s any artistry, it’s in the experimental design. That’s our palette.”

The scientists first researched the literature to ensure that no one else had used their proposed experiment model to assess the function of microsaccades. They developed analysis methods and recruited colleagues and friends to participate in the research, conducted at Barrow.

The results were clear and replicable—microsaccades enable vision to continue when the gaze is fixed and probably are at the root of several types of ophthalmic disease.

Drs. Martinez-Conde and Macknik published their first article about the findings in a professional journal, Neuron. Soon afterward, Scientific American requested a proposal for an article on the topic. Once the magazine’s editorial board okayed the proposal, the scientists began working on the article for the prestigious science magazine.

In July, “we got six magazines a piece in the mail, and that’s when we found out [we were on the cover],” says Dr. Macknik. The article was selected for the cover after a panel of readers chose it as the issue’s most interesting.

The couple shared the big news first with their parents and then with Dr. Hubel.

Jorge Otero-Millan, programmer; Xoana G. Troncoso, PhD, post-doctorate fellow; and Hector Rieiro, programmer, in the Laboratory of Visual Neuroscience at Barrow.

“The cool thing about this is that it’s an article our parents will be able to understand,” Dr. Macknik says.“They can buy a Scientific American and open to the page with our names on it and read the article. It’s the first time that’s happened. There just aren’t many venues for us to publish to the public.”


Increased visibility

Their discovery has certainly increased their visibility in the scientific world, says Dr. Macknik, especially that of Dr. Martinez-Conde. “It thrusts Susana from being a well-known researcher in the field to being a leader of the field.”

Already, Dr. Martinez-Conde has been invited to be the keynote lecturer at the upcoming 14th European Conference on Eye Movements in Germany. She was recently interviewed by media in Spain, her homeland, and received an award from Galicia, her home state. The National Science Foundation has granted Dr. Martinez-Conde funds for follow-up research.

This discovery is just the beginning, says Dr. Martinez-Conde. “The next step is making it applicable in the clinic. What happens in diseases when eye movements are impaired? How is vision affected? What can we do to ameliorate symptoms?”

Thanks to BNF donors, these researchers have been able to make a significant contribution to the science of vision—and to the possibility of improved treatments for eye diseases.

Get your free copy of Scientific American Read “Windows on the Mind,” an article written by Barrow researchers Susana Martinez-Conde, PhD, and Stephen Macknik, PhD, and learn: Why your eyes never stop moving.  How microsaccades may shed light on subliminal thoughts. How staring at something causes surrounding Stationary images to fade away. For your free copy of the August 2007 edition of Scientific American, email your name and mailing address to Catherine.Menor@chw.edu. Or, call us at 602-406-3041.