Our research focuses on evaluating the ocular surface and tear film in various contexts, including health, disease, contact lens wear, and responses to different therapies.
Key Research Areas:
- Epidemiology – Exploring the prevalence and causes of ocular surface conditions
- Clinical Trials – Testing treatments to improve eye health and comfort
- Diagnostics – Enhancing methods to evaluate the ocular surface and tear film
- Therapies & Product Innovation – Evaluating treatments and designing products for better eye care
- Translational Research – Applying lab findings to clinical practice to advance patient care
- Laboratory Analysis – Investigating the mechanisms of ocular surface diseases
Specialised Topics:
- Tear film dysfunction
- Ocular surface disease
- Dry eye disease, including its development and risk factors
- Meibomian gland dysfunction
- Ocular surface diagnostics
- Therapeutic strategies for dry eye and ocular surface diseases
Research Opportunities
The Ocular Surface Lab’s experienced clinical research team manages every stage of study development, from protocol design and participant recruitment to data collection, analysis, and reporting.
The lab also supports Honours, Masters, and Doctoral-level studies, fostering the next generation of clinician-scientists specializing in dry eye and ocular surface disease.
- Opportunities for collaboration
- Opportunities for postgraduate study
- PhD
- Masters
- Clinical Masters
- Opportunities for undergraduate student projects
- Honours – BOptom or BMedSc
- Summer studentships
- Medical electives / selectives
Equipment Available
We use various validated techniques in our studies to observe the ocular surface and tear film.
- Delfin Vapometer
- Oculus Keratograph 5M
- Tearlab Osmometer
- Heidelberg HRT 3 in vivo confocal microscope
- Non-contact aesthesiometry with cooling module
- NEC-AVIO TVS-200 infrared thermographer
- Rysurg BlephEx
- EasyTearView Plus with infrared imaging
- Keeler Tearscope Plus
- CSO Polaris interferometer
- RPS InflammaDry
- Medmont E300 (on loan)
- Tearscience Lipiview II (on loan)
- Kowa DR1α (on loan)
- E-Swin Intense Regulated Pulsed Light (on loan)
Research Collaborators
University of New South Wales (AUS)
University of Melbourne (AUS)
University of Waterloo (CA)
University of Montreal (CA)
University of Aston (UK)
SERI (SG)
Industry Collaborators
General Inquiries
OPHTHALMOLOGY
M&HS BUILDING 504 – Bldg 504
85 PARK RD
GRAFTON
AUCKLAND 1023
New Zealand
For general queries, please contact Hazel Pannell (h.pannell@auckland.ac.nz).
For clinical queries or patient participation in research, please contact Dr Kalika Bandamwar (kalika.bandamwar@auckland.ac.nz) or Dr Ally Xue (a.xue@auckland.ac.nz)