Sandra Wagner
Postdoc
Researcher
About me
I am a Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA) Global Postdoctoral Fellow at the Royal Institute of Technology / KTH - AlbaNova and UC Berkeley School of Optometry & Vision Science. My main research interests are myopia, reasons for its development, and methods to prevent its onset or further progression.
Previously, I was a Postdoctoral Researcher and Deputy Group Leader at the Institute for Ophthalmic Research, University of Tuebingen, Germany (www.eye-tuebingen.de/labs/main-labs/strasser-lab/members/sandra-wagner).
While completing my PhD in Neuroscience (Dr. rer. nat.) at the Institute for Ophthalmic Research/ International Max Planck Research School, University of Tuebingen, I was a Fulbright Visiting Researcher at the State University of New York, College of Optometry, New York, USA.
Regarding my background, I studied Optometry & Audiology (B.Sc.) and Optometry & Psychophysics (M.Sc.) at Aalen University, Germany.
| Professional Experience | |
|---|---|
| Since 10/2024 | Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA) Global Postdoctoral Fellow at the Royal Institute of Technology / KTH - AlbaNova and UC Berkeley School of Optometry & Vision Science |
| 01/2021 – 09/2024 | Postdoc Fellow/ Deputy Group Leader of Applied Vision Research Group, Institute for Ophthalmic Research, Tuebingen, Germany |
| 03/2017 – 12/2020 | Research Assistant/ PhD student Institute for Ophthalmic Research, Tuebingen, Germany |
| 10/2019 – 03/2020 | Fulbright Visiting Research Fellowship at State University of New York, College of Optometry, New York City, New York, USA |
| 09/2016 – 01/2017 | Research Assistant ZEISS Vision Science Lab, Institute for Ophthalmic Research, Tuebingen, Germany |
| 09/2015 – 05/2016 | Master student ZEISS Vision Science Lab, Institute for Ophthalmic Research, Tuebingen, Germany |
| 08/2012 – 11/2012 | Research Intern Brien Holden Vision Institute, Sydney, Australia |
| Academic Education | |
|---|---|
| 2020 | Dr. rer. nat., Neuroscience, International Max Planck Research School for Cognitive and Systems Neuroscience, University of Tuebingen, Germany |
| 2016 | Master of Science, Optometry and Psychophysics, Aalen University, Germany |
| 2014 | Bachelor of Science, Optometry and Audiology, Aalen University, Germany |
| Further Education | |
|---|---|
| 06/2023 | Participation in the 72nd Lindau Nobel Laureate Meeting dedicated to Physiology/Medicine as one of 635 Young Scientists worldwide, Lindau, Germany |
| 09/2022 | Course “Essentials of Medical Education”, Didactic Qualification Programme for Medical Teachers in Baden-Wuerttemberg, Competence Centre for University Teaching in Medicine Baden-Wuerttemberg, Tuebingen, Germany |
| 07/2022 | Research Academy (by The American Academy of Optometry), Training in NIH/NEI Grant Writing, The Ohio State University College of Optometry, Columbus, Ohio, USA |
| 05/2022 | Certificate Program “Leadership in Academia, Industry & Society”, Graduate Academy, University of Tuebingen, Germany |
| 11/2021 | Good Scientific Practice for Supervisors, Medical Faculty/ Graduate Academy, University of Tuebingen, Germany |
| 09/2019 | CITI Program Good Clinical Practice Course, GCP Course for Clinical Trials, CITI Conflicts of Interest, State University of New York, College of Optometry, New York City, New York, USA |
| 01/2019 – 06/2019 | ARVO Global Mentorship Program |
| 03/2017 – 12/2020 | MBA Fundamentals Program for Researchers, HECTOR School, Technology Business School of the KIT, Karlsruhe, Germany |
| Past & Current Funding | |
|---|---|
| Since 10/2024 | Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA) Global Postdoctoral Fellowship, HORIZON-MSCA-2023-PF-01-01 |
| 03/2023 – 09/2024 | Meta Technologies LLC Myopia Grant by the American Academy of Optometry Foundation (AAOF) and Reality Labs Research (RLR) |
| 12/2023 | Meta Technologies LLC Unrestricted Research Grant |
| 02/2021 – 09/2024 | Carl Zeiss Foundation "Breakthroughs at Universities 2020: Intelligent Solutions for an Aging Society" (PI: Dr. Torsten Strasser) |
| 03/2017 – 11/2020 | Hector Fellow Academy gGmbH |
| Awards and Scholarships | |
|---|---|
| 10/2023 | International Myopia Travel Award by the International Myopia Institute, American Academy of Optometry (AAO) Meeting, New Orleans, Louisiana, USA |
| 10/2020 | Fellow of the American Academy of Optometry (FAAO) |
| 05/2020 | 2020 Outstanding Poster Award Finalist of the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology (ARVO), USA |
| 05/2020 | 2020 Josh Wallman Memorial Travel Grant Recipient of the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology (ARVO), USA |
| 10/2019 | AAO Student Travel Fellowship of the American Academy of Optometry, Orlando, Florida, USA |
| 10/2019 – 03/2020 | Fulbright Visiting Researcher Fellowship |
| 08/2018 | Best Student Paper Award, Optical Society of America Technical Group Applications of Visual Science |
| 10/2017 | Rupp + Hubrach Award for Ophthalmic Optics for master’s thesis |
| 12/2015 | Award of Binder Optik GmbH for bachelor’s thesis |
| 11/2014 | Carl Zeiss TopJob Award (Best of class) |
| 10/2012 – 02/2014 | Scholarship Deutschlandstipendium |
| 08/2012 – 11/2012 | Scholarship Baden-Württemberg-Stipendium |
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Reviewer in Scientific Journals |
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Vision Research; Current Eye Research; Scientific Reports; Biomedical Optics Express; PLOS ONE; Ophthalmic and Physiological Optics; Eye and Vision; Frontiers |
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Memberships |
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Since 2019: |
American Academy of Optometry (AAO) |
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Since 2017: |
The Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology (ARVO) |
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Papers |
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07/2023: |
Wagner S, Strasser T. Impact of text contrast polarity on the retinal activity in myopes and emmetropes using modified pattern ERG. Scientific Reports. 2023;13. 11101. doi: 10.1038/s41598-023-38192-9. |
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04/2023: |
Wagner S, Süer E, Sigdel B, Zrenner E, Strasser T. Monocular transcorneal electrical stimulation induces ciliary muscle thickening in contralateral eye. Experimental Eye Research. 2023;231.109475. doi: 10.1016/j.exer.2023.109475 |
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12/2022: |
Strasser T,Wagner S. Performance of the Deep Neural Network Ciloctunet, Integrated with Open-Source Software for Ciliary Muscle Segmentation in Anterior Segment OCT Images, Is on Par with Experienced Examiners. Diagnostics 2022;12(12).3055. doi: 10.3390/diagnostics12123055 |
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06/2020: |
Strasser T§,Wagner S§, Zrenner E. Review of the application of the open-source software CilOCT for semi-automatic segmentation and analysis of the ciliary muscle in OCT images. PLOS ONE. 2020;15(6).e0234330. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0234330 §Contributed equally to the work |
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03/2020: |
Wagner S, Schaeffel F, Troilo D. Changing accommodation behaviour during multifocal soft contact lens wear using auditory biofeedback training. Scientific Reports. 2020;10(1):1-10. doi: 10.1038/s41598-020-61904-4 |
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10/2019: |
Wagner S, Zrenner E, Strasser T. Emmetropes and myopes differ little in their accommodation dynamics but strongly in their ciliary muscle morphology. Vision Research. 2019;163:42-51. doi: 10.1016/j.visres.2019.08.002 |
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07/2019: |
Wagner S, Schaeffel F, Zrenner E, Strasser T. Prolonged nearwork affects the ciliary muscle morphology. Experimental Eye Research. 2019;186.107741. doi: 10.1016/j.exer.2019.107741 |
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10/2018: |
Wagner S, Zrenner E, Strasser T. Ciliary muscle thickness profiles derived from optical coherence tomography images. Biomedical Optics Express 2018;9(10):5100-5114. doi: 10.1364/BOE.9.005100 |
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06/2018: |
Wagner S, Ohlendorf A, Schaeffel F, Wahl S. Reduktion der Unterakkommodation durch auditorisches Biofeedback: eine Pilotstudie. Optometrie - Fachpublikation für Augenoptik. 2018;2:9-20. |
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10/2016: |
Wagner S, Ohlendorf A, Schaeffel F, Wahl S. Reducing the lag of accommodation by auditory biofeedback: A pilot study. Vision Research. 2016;129:50-60. doi: 10.1016/j.visres.2016.10.002 |
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08/2014: |
Wagner S, Conrad F, Bakaraju RC, Fedtke C, Ehrmann K, Holden BA. Power profiles of single vision and multifocal soft contact lenses. Contact Lens and Anterior Eye. 2015;38(1):2-14. doi: 10.1016/j.clae.2014.07.008 |
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Invited Talks |
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| 03/2024: | 61stFielmann Academy Colloquium, Webinar “Current research on accommodation”, Scientific meeting of ophthalmic opticians, industry, ophthalmologists, and eye care specialists |
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10/2023: |
The University of Alabama at Birmingham, School of Optometry (Host: Prof. Safal Khanal), Birmingham, Alabama, USA |
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10/2023: |
Emory University, School of Medicine (Host: Prof. Machelle Pardue), Atlanta, Georgia, USA |
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05/2022: |
Experts Days, Degree Program B Sc Optometry,Aalen University, Germany. “Myopia – Results from Research” |
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04/2021: |
Research Seminar Series, School of Optometry and Vision Science,University of Bradford (Host: Prof. Neema Ghorbani Mojarrad), Bradford, UK |
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11/2020: |
Webinar “Myopia Management WebiNights”, Weiterbildung für gutes Sehen, Online seminars for further education of eye care specialists |
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01/2020: |
Schnurmacher Institute for Vision Research Colloquium,State University of New York, College of Optometry (Host: Prof. David Troilo), New York City, New York, USA |
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04/2018: |
69th Annual Congress of the Scientific Association for Ophthalmic Optics and Optometry, Mainz, Germany |
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01/2016: |
Panel discussion opti-Forum, “Will the entire world soon be nearsighted? Myopia research between science and reality”, OPTI,International Trade Show for Optics and Design, Munich, Germany |
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10/2015: |
Guild meeting of theFederal Trade Guild Association for Opticians and Optometrists (ZVA), Starnberg, Germany |
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Conference Talks |
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| 11/2024: | American Academy of Optometry (AAO) Meeting, Indianapolis, Indiana, USA:Wagner S, Doez I, Settele A, Strasser T. Adaptation Effects to Selective ON/OFF Stimulation During Nearwork Differ Between Emmetropes and Myopes. |
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10/2023: |
American Academy of Optometry (AAO) Meeting, New Orleans, Louisiana, USA:Wagner S, Settele A, Strasser T. ERG Responses of Emmetropes vs. Myopes to Selective ON/OFF Pathway Activation Using a Novel Stimulus. |
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10/2023: |
American Academy of Optometry (AAO) Meeting, New Orleans, Louisiana, USA:Wagner S, Wichmann T, Strasser T. Are Effects of Retinal ON/OFF Pathway Stimulation Influenced by Accommodation and Pupil Responses during Reading Task? |
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10/2020: |
American Academy of Optometry (AAO) Meeting (virtual):Wagner S, Strasser T, Schaeffel F, Troilo D, Zrenner E. How does the accommodation system of emmetropes and myopes differ? |
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10/2019: |
American Academy of Optometry (AAO) Meeting, Orlando, Florida, USA:Wagner S, Schaeffel F, Strasser T, Zrenner E, Troilo D. Accommodation Training in Emmetropic and Myopic Students using Auditory Biofeedback. |
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09/2019: |
International Myopia Conference, Tokyo, Japan:Wagner S, Zrenner E, Strasser T. Emmetropes and myopes differ little in their accommodation dynamics but strongly in their ciliary muscle morphology. |
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04/2019: |
The Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology (ARVO) Annual Meeting, Vancouver, Canada:Wagner S, Schaeffel F, Zrenner E, Strasser T. Does close work affect the ciliary muscle morphology? |
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08/2018: |
Conference paper 9th European Meeting on Visual and Physiological Optics, Athens, Greece:Wagner S, Schaeffel F, Zrenner E, Strasser T. Effects of nearwork on ciliary muscle morphology. |
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Moderator |
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10/2023: |
American Academy of Optometry (AAO) Meeting, New Orleans, Louisiana, USA. Paper Session: P-09 Papers: Mechanisms in Myopia. |
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05/2023: |
The Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology (ARVO) Annual Meeting, New Orleans, Louisiana, USA. Poster Session: Myopia: Clinical Interventions and Diagnostics |
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09/2019: |
International Myopia Conference Tokyo, Japan. Session 5: Accommodation/Binocular Vision |
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Teaching |
| University of Tuebingen, Germany, Faculty of Medicine, Lecture in Series “System Analysis of the Retina in Health and Disease” (TüKliF Seminar), 2024 |
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Aalen University, Germany, Degree Program B Sc Optometry, Lecture “English for Optometry”, Winter Term 2023/24 |
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Aalen University, Germany, Degree Program B Sc Optometry, Lecture “Applied Optometry”, Summer Term 2022 |
Languages
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German, English, French |