ACMD Research Seminar - September 2026

PROGRAM

📅 Wednesday 09 September 2026

🕛 12:30–1:30pm

📍 Hybrid: The Brenda Shanahan AO Auditorium, or Online

Turning Surgical Failure into a Design Brief: The VW51 Glaucoma Implant Story

Glaucoma surgery aims to save sight by creating a pathway for fluid to leave the eye. Its success depends on managing the body’s healing response as it tries to close that pathway.

The VW51 glaucoma implant began with a question: what if postoperative failure is driven by the progressive loss of tissue porosity?

This talk traces the VW51’s bench-to-bedside journey - from challenging assumptions and developing models to test porosity, through studies, prototype redesign and validation, to first-in-human implantation, clinical evaluation and commercial hurdles.

At its heart, the VW51 story is about turning clinical frustration into a design problem - and asking whether a safer, more predictable and less burdensome glaucoma operation can be engineered from first principles to improve outcomes for patients worldwide.

Professor Michael Coote

Professor Michael Coote is a Melbourne-based glaucoma specialist, surgeon, researcher and medical device innovator. He is Clinical Professor at the University of Melbourne, a senior consultant at the Royal Victorian Eye and Ear Hospital and Managing Partner of Melbourne Eye Specialists. He has held senior clinical leadership and governance roles, including Clinical Director of RVEEH and non-executive director roles in major health organisations. His career has focused on improving glaucoma diagnosis, surgical outcomes, education and patient safety. He is co-founder of VividWhite, the company developing the VW51 glaucoma implant, a new Australian device designed to make glaucoma surgery safer, more predictable and less burdensome.

Hybrid attendance available

Open to all researchers across the #ACMD ecosystem. We look forward to welcoming our community to our next ACMD seminar

A light lunch is provided for in-person attendees from 12 PM onwards. We would love to see you there - register to secure your spot.

Session starts at 12:30pm

Join us in-person at ACMD

Register to attend in person from 12pm at the The Brenda Shanahan AO Auditorium, L1, The Aikenhead Centre for Medical Discovery (ACMD).

Join us online

Register to receive the teams link which will be shown on your ticket / email confirmation.

Important note for attendees:

Please be advised that photographs and videos may be taken by ACMD staff. By attending this event, you agree to being filmed or photographed, and acknowledge that these may be used for marketing or promotional purposes.

Contact

For any queries or help with event registration, please email contact@acmd.org.au