Dr Beatrix Feigl, MD, PhD

Dr Feigl is an Ophthalmologist and Research Scientist with over 60 publications. Previously, she held appointments as Assistant Professor in the Department of Ophthalmology at the Medical University, Graz, Austria and Visiting Fellowships at the University of Tübingen, Germany and the Smith-Kettlewell Eye Research Institute, USA. She was a QUT Vice Chancellor Research Fellow before her current Academic position in the School of Biomedical Sciences at QUT. Her research has been supported by the Australian Research Council, a QUT Vice-Chancellor Research Fellowship and ECARD, and the Austrian Society of Ophthalmology (ÖOG).

Her research foci include development of novel measures of human vision that incorporate pupillometry, electroretinography, in-vivo imaging, visual psychophysics and genetics for the early detection and documentation of functional changes in retinal diseases and in particular, age-related macular degeneration (AMD). Dr Feigl’s research involves basic scientific studies of melanopsin expressing intrinsically photosensitive retinal ganglion cell (ipRGC) function in humans and the clinical translation of these findings to eye disease. This includes development of new clinical paradigms that optimise the measurement of the pupil light reflex (PLR) to allow for rapid and precise differentiation of inner retinal (melanopsin) and outer retinal (rod and cone photoreceptor) dysfunction. Together with clinicians at the QEI she is translating her research outcomes to the clinic by implementing these new pupillometry paradigms for glaucoma management and to provided evidence for the relationship between gene variations and macular pigment optical density in people with AMD.