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Poster awards recognise basic science and innovation The winners in the poster competition of the XXI Congress of the ESCRS went front and centre to receive their prizes during the meeting's opening ceremony. David Spalton MD from the UK presented the prizes in his capacity as chairman of the panel of judges. Prizes were awarded in two different categories, cataract surgery and refractive surgery. The first prize in the cataract surgery category was sponsored by Oertli Instruments AG, and consisted of a plaque and E1,000. The first prize for the refractive surgery category was sponsored by Wavelight Technology, and was also E1,000. ESCRS sponsored a runner-up prize in each category of E500.
Cataract Category The first prize for the cataract category was awarded to Tat-Keong Chan MD from the National University of Singapore. His poster was titled ‘Nested-polymerase chain reaction (PCR) for the rapid detection of microbes implicated in infectious endophthalmitis'. "The main merit of this poster was that it brings in a new technique like PCR to the study of endophthalmitis. It is also very clear and well presented," commented Dr Spalton. The runner-up in the cataract competition was Gerd Auffarth MD from the University of Heidelberg, Germany for the poster titled: ‘Corneal surface temperature and phaco energy profiles during phacoemulsification with the AMO Sovereign machine with White Star Technology'. Refractive Category
In the refractive category, the first prize was awarded to Mike Holzer MD from the University of Heidelberg, Germany. His poster was titled: ‘Contrast sensitivity after implantation of an aspheric intraocular lens'. "This poster covers a subject which can be problematic (recurrent erosions) and can lead to refractive errors. It makes recommendations that have potential clinical relevance," said Dan Epstein MD, chairman of the panel of judges for the refractive category. The runner-up in the refractive surgery category was Tae-Im Kim MD from the University of Ulsan, Asan Medical Centre, in Seoul, South Korea, for the poster ‘The effects of mitomycin-C and diluted alcohol on keratocytes'. "Dr Kim's poster presents excellent basic science research, well-documented, which could have important clinical applications," said Dr Epstein. "We had more posters this year than ever before. The standard was high and the panel remarked the tremendous amount of effort that many authors have put into their posters," said Dr Spalton. Around 250 posters were entered in the competition. The panel of judges consisted of four members in each category, and made their decisions independently. They looked at all posters in detail, and made a shortlist from which the winners and runners-up were chosen. Prizes were awarded by unanimity. "The winners were chosen on grounds of scientific content, clinical relevance and presentation," said Dr Spalton. "We see posters as an increasingly important part of the meeting. We are putting more and more emphasis in posters, giving them more space, encouraging submissions and giving them high volume prizes. Posters are a very valid alternative means to present scientific information: they can be perused at leisure at any time during the meeting."
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