The "Eyes" Have It: Introduction to The Comparative Ocular Pathology Laboratory

Dr. Richard Dubielzig, founder of Comparative Ocular Pathology Laboratory of Wisconsin (COPLOW), will provide an overview of the history of the collection, the scope and breadth of the collections, information on how the collection is preserved and utilized for scientific and medical research.

COPLOW was established at the School of Veterinary Medicine of Wisconsin in 1983 as a mail-in ocular pathology laboratory servicing veterinary ophthalmologists. The main scientific mission of the COPLOW is to study the natural history of spontaneous eye diseases of domestic animals, however they published widely on comparative anatomy and on case reports of diverse species. The service has grown yearly and now has almost 85,000 specimens. Almost 80,000 of these are dog, cat, or horse specimens submitted by ophthalmologists. The remaining 5,000 are specimens of every kind of eye one can imagine. Specimens are submitted by zoos, aquariums, biologists, and anatomists.

About Dr. Richard Dubielzig:

Dr. Richard Dubielzig graduated from Veterinary School in the class of 1972 at the University of Minnesota. After two years of small animal practice in New York state he began a pathology residency at the University of Pennsylvania in 1974 leading to board certification in 1977. Dr. Dubielzig stayed at the University of Pennsylvania as a faculty member in anatomic pathology. During his residency he first became interested in ocular pathology and he was mentored in ophthalmology by Gustavo Aquirre. In 1983, Dr. Dubielzig returned to his home town of Madison Wisconsin where he was the charter faculty member of the new Pathobiological Sciences. He retired (July 2014) and is an emeritus Professor of Pathology.

Dr Dubielzig founded COPLOW, a large mail-in ocular pathology service, and has authored many original articles describing the morphologic changes in the spontaneous diseases of the eye in animals. The archived collection of the Comparative Ocular Pathology Lab of Wisconsin (COPLOW) is available as a teaching or research resource. Dr. Dubielzig continues to work with the COPLOW images and he helps to maintain the database in a form that enhances the ability to search.

(Horse, ostrich, elephant seal, elephant, giraffe, Humboldt squid These are some big eyes. Can you sort them out?)

Leandro Teixeira COPLOW  director with the slide collection