Prof. Dr. Dominik Straumann

 

Main Goals, Keywords

To study of central and peripheral diseases of the ocular motor and vestibular system in humans and to assess potential treatments (eye movement disorders; humans; neuro-ophthalmology; neuro-otology; neurology; three-dimensional ocular rotations; ocular kinematics).

Group Members

1 Leitender Arzt, 1 Oberassistent, 3 postdoctoral fellows, 3 doctoral students, 2 orthoptists, 1 electronic engineer, 1 programmer

Previous and Current Research

The long-term goal of this research is to better understand diseases of the ocular motor system in humans and to assess potential treatments. The focus of interest is on the three-dimensional (horizontal, vertical, torsional) kinematical properties of ocular rotations. During the last three-year period, ongoing research centered on torsional eye movements evoked by on-vertical (= along gravity vector) and off-vertical linear acceleration of healthy human subjects and patients with peripheral-vestibular or cerebellar deficits.

Future Projects

Our research will concentrate on two themes, in which three-dimensional (3D) eye movements play an eminent role: (i) The influence of visual, vestibular, and pharmacological stimuli on the dynamics and kinematics of infantile nystagmus syndrome (INS) in humans and of its behavioral model in zebrafish and (ii) the electro-myo-oculographic (EMG) characterization of angular and linear vestibulo-ocular reflexes (VOR) in healthy human subjects and patients with vestibular disorders.

Techniques and Equipment

This research uses the latest techniques for evoking (motorized multi-axes turntable, motion simulator, mini-shaker, laser projection system), measuring (dual search coil technique, 3D video-oculography, extra-ocular muscle myography), and analyzing (rotation vector algebra, computer simulations) 3D eye rotations.

 

 

Selected Publications

• McKay R, Tamagni C, Palla A, Krummenacher P, Hegemann SC, Straumann D, Brugger P. Vestibular stimulation attenuates unrealistic optimism. Cortex. 2013 Apr 30. doi:pii: S0010-9452(13)00112-3. 10.1016/j.cortex.2013.04.005. [Epub ahead of print]
• Poretti A, Palla A, Tarnutzer AA, Petersen JA, Weber KP, Straumann D, Jung HH. Vestibular impairment in patients with Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease. Neurology. 2013 Jun 4;80(23):2099-105. doi: 10.1212/WNL.0b013e318295d72a. Epub 2013 May 8.
• Petersen JA, Straumann D, Weber KP. Clinical diagnosis of bilateral vestibular loss: three simple bedside tests. Ther Adv Neurol Disord. 2013 Jan;6(1):41-5. doi: 10.1177/1756285612465920.
  
• Geser R, Straumann D. Referral and final diagnoses of patients assessed in an academic vertigo center. Front Neurol. 2012;3:169. doi: 10.3389/fneur.2012.00169. Epub 2012 Nov 28.

Funding

Swiss National Science Foundation #32-105434; Betty and David Koetser Foundation for Brain Research, Epson

URL

www.neurologie.usz.ch