A scenic river cruise on the Neckar will give attendees a unique vantage point of Heidelberg’s historic landmarks. (Image credit: AdobeStock/upnowgraphics)

The 21st International SPECTRALIS Symposium (ISS), hosted by Heidelberg Engineering, will take place from June 13–14 in its namesake city, Heidelberg, Germany—marking the first time the event will take place in the newly opened Heidelberg Congress Center.

At the close of the first day’s scientific sessions, participants will have the opportunity to join a river cruise along the Neckar, offering picturesque views of historic Heidelberg.¹ Guests can choose between the Queen Silvia, which features a seated dinner cruise, or a second vessel providing food, drinks, and live music.

Both days of the meeting will feature welcome messages from course director Frank Holz, MD, FEBO, FARVO. Holz is professor and chair of the Department of Ophthalmology at University of Bonn, Germany. During the ISS, he will serve as co-chair for two sessions, and will present his own lecture, sharing results from the MACUSTAR study demonstrating imaging-based progression markers in intermediate AMD.

Below, find the schedule of topics, including program chairs, for the ISS.² For more information about the ISS, including information on digital poster presentations, tours of the SkyLabs tower and registration, access the ISS website here.

Friday

Welcome address from course director Professor Frank G. Holz

9:45

Oculomics

Chaired by SriniVas R. Sadda, MD, FARVO, and Giovanni Staurenghi, MD, FARVO, FEBO

10:00 to 11:15

Lecture topics will include mechanistic and biomarker discovery, unlocking systemic insights with multimodal retinal imaging in the NICOLA study, approaching neurodegeneration with a focus on corneal imaging, and more.

High-resolution OCT

Chaired by Balwantray Chauhan, PhD, and Leopold Schmetterer, MSc, PhD

11:45 to 13:00

Lectures will address many challenges and opportunities in optical coherence tomography (OCT), including high-res OCT of atrophic and precursor lesions in AMD, unveiling new insights in diabetic maculopathy with high-resolution OCT, first reactions to a new high-res imaging platform.

New Technology

Chaired by Prof Holz and Adnan Tufail, MBBS, MD, FRCOphth

14:30 to 15:45

Topics in this session include holographic OCT for retinal function, in vivo functional imaging of singular retinal ganglion cells with two-photon imaging, use of fluorescence lifetime imaging ophthalmoscopy (FLIO) to study silent disease progression in Alzheimer, Parkinson and MS and other topics.

AMD and GA

Chaired by Karl Csaky, MD, PhD, and Robert P. Finger, MD, PhD

16:15 to 17:30

Multiple presentations using the MACUSTAR data to better understand retinal function and structure, using OCT-determined anatomical features as clinical trial endpoints, and more

Keynote: A journey into space

From 17:45 to 18:30, two team members from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) will deliver the keynote address, “A journey into space: Völlig losgelöst!”

Warren “Woody” Hoburg reported for duty as part of the NASA astronaut class of 2017. He holds a bachelor’s degree in aeronautics and astronautics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and a doctorate in electrical engineering and computer science from the University of California, Berkeley. At the time of his selection for the astronaut program, he was an assistant professor at MIT. Astronaut Hoburg launched to the International Space Station as Pilot of NASA’s SpaceX Crew-6 mission in March 2, 2023 and has logged a total of 186 days in space on his first flight.³

Tyson J. Brunstetter, MBA, OD, PhD, FAAO, FAsMA, is a US Navy aerospace optometrist at the NASA Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas. He earned his OD, MS and PhD from the Ohio State University.⁴ He the clinical lead for NASA’s research into spaceflight-associated neuro-ocular syndrome (SANS), a condition which is common among astronauts, especially during long-duration missions.

Follow along with all of our ISS coverage

Saturday

Welcome note from course director Professor Frank G. Holz

9:00

Artificial intelligence

Chaired by Roberto Gallego Pinazo, MD, PhD, and Seung-Young Yu, MD, PhD

9:30 to 10:30

Presentations in the artificial intelligence (AI) session will address use of AI in FLIO (including findings from the AI-READI project), AI-based evaluation of dry AMD biomarkers and fluid monitoring in nAMD and GA.

Retina

Chaired by Anat Loewenstein, MD, and Ursula Schmidt-Erfurth, MD

11:00 to 12:30

Topics will include pearls for avoiding misdiagnosis when encountering hyperreflective vitreous opacities in children, OCT and OCT-A in patients with sickle cell retinopathy, OCT-based outcome measures in pediatric gene therapy, and more.

Distributed care

Chaired by Prof Holz and James Talks, MA, MB Bchir, MRCP, FRCOphth

14:00 to 15:30

Topics in the final session include remote patient monitoring, the continued relevance of multimodal imaging, extreme telemedicine during long-duration space travel and closing the “gaps” between hospitals and communities with retinal imaging.

References

1. International SPECTRALIS Symposium June 13-14 in Heidelberg. Heidelberg Engineering Academy. Accessed June 9, 2025. https://academy.heidelbergengineering.com/course/view.php?id=1246

2. International SPECTRALIS Symposium and Beyond: Our Best Program. Heidelberg Engineering Academy. Accessed June 9, 2025. https://www.academy.heidelbergengineering.com/hedata/e-learning/Totara/Dateien/ScientificProgram_ISS2025_Heidelberg.pdf

3. Warren Hoburg, NASA Astronaut. NASA. Accessed June 9, 2025. https://www.nasa.gov/people/warren-hoburg/

4. Bio: Tyson J. Brunstetter. United Mitochondrial Diseased Mar Foundation. Published March 2022. Accessed June 9, 2025. https://www.umdf.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/2022MitoMedBrunstetterBio.pdf