Laboratory of
Ocular Biomechanics

University of Pittsburgh

December, 2024

• Best wishes to Bangquan Liao!

  • Bangquan recieved his Bioengineering MS.

November, 2024

• Welcome Harish Kodavali!

  • Joins our lab as an undergraduate student researcher.

• Welcome Adam Galloy!

  • Joins our lab as a Post-Doctoral Fellow.

• Manik and Bingrui's image as IOVS eCover!

  • "Proposing a methodology for axon-centric analysis of IOP-induced mechanical insult", of November 2024. [Read for free in IOVS]

October, 2024

• Image of Distinction

  • Susannah Waxman's image of pig optic nerve head collagen was selected as an "Image of Distinction" at the Nikon 2024 Photomicrography Competition. [Susannah's Image] The images in the galleries [linked here] are absolutely amazing. It's a great honor to have a spot with them. Congratulations Susannah!

• New paper accepted!

  • "Comparing continuum and direct fiber models of soft tissues: An ocular biomechanics example reveals that continuum models may artificially disrupt the strains at both the tissue and fiber levels" by Acta Biomaterialia. This work was led by Xuehuan He. [Read Here]

September, 2024

• New paper accepted!

  • "Proposing a methodology for axon-centric analysis of IOP-induced mechanical insult" by IOVS. This work was led by Manik Bansal and Bingrui Wang. [Read Here]

• First place in Mercy Image Contest

  • An image from our lab placed first in the Mercy Vision Institute Image Contest among 60+ entries. Two more images from our lab were within the top 12 finalists. [More details about the image, how it was obtained, an interpretation and implications in this paper.]

• One talk and three posters

  • Our lab presented a talk (by Sigal) and three posters (by Yuankai Lu, Susannah Waxman and Bingrui Wang) during the i2Eye conference at the Mercy Vision Institute in Pittsburgh 15-17 Sep 2024.

• Welcome Jarin Dengler!

  • Joins our lab as a Research Assistant.

• Welcome back Ruhani Hill and Juana Yang!

  • Undergraduate students doing computational research in our lab.

• Welcome Annika Oberdofer!

  • Joins our lab as a PhD student.

• Welcome back Yingzhe Han!

  • Returns to our lab as a PhD student.

• Congratulations Susannah Waxman!

  • She was awarded the Wiegand Fellowship for the project: "Early Astrocyte Responses to Elevated Intraocular Pressure in the Human Lamina Cribrosa".

August, 2024

• Best wishes to Hannah Schlipp!

  • Hannah was a Research Assistant in our lab.

• Center for Visual Science Meeting

  • At the meeting in Rochester, NY, Susannah Waxman presented a poster titled "Diverse Astrocyte Morphology and Deformation with Intraocular Pressure in the Lamina Cribrosa".

July, 2024

• Research to Prevent Blindness Symposium

  • Susannah Waxman presented the talk "Seeing Stars: Astrocytes at the Bridge to the Brain in the Context of Health and Glaucoma".

• Congratulations Bingrui Wang!

  • She was awarded a BrightFocus Foundation Postdoctoral Fellowship. [Read more about Bingrui and her project here]

June, 2024

• Four talks and four posters!

  • Work from our lab has been selected for four talks and four posters at SB3C (Summer Biomechanics, Bioengineering, and Biotransport Conference), Lake Geneva, WI, June 11 - 14, 2024.

• One talk and four posters!

  • We presented a talk (by Yuankai Lu) and four posters (by Bingrui Wang, Susannah Waxman, Xuehuan He, and Bangquan Liao) at Vision Research Day, June 7, 2024.

May, 2024

• Congratulations Susannah Waxman!

  • Susannah successfully defended her PhD work on May 31st 2024. She did a fantastic job! She is now working as a Post-Doctoral Fellow with us.

• Welcome Kyra Roseman!

  • Joins our lab as a Summer Student Researcher.

• Two talks and four posters!

  • We presented two talks (by Yuankai Lu and Susannah Waxman) and four posters (by Bingrui Wang, Po-Yi Lee and Yingzhe Han and a collaboration with Brian Vohnsen) at ARVO 2024, in Seattle, WA.

• Congratulations Po-Yi Lee!

  • Po-Yi Lee gave a podium presentation at the Imaging of the eye, ARVO Imaging, Seattle, WA.

• Yuankai's image as IOVS eCover!

  • "The Robust Lamina Cribrosa Vasculature: Perfusion and Oxygenation Under Elevated Intraocular Pressure", of May 2024. [Read for free in IOVS]

April, 2024

• Congratulations Spring 2024 MEMS Senior Design Team!

  • They won 3rd place in their department for their "Systems for tensioning, clamping and testing fibrous constructs" at the Spring Design Expo!

• Congratulations Yiding Li, Lucas Zwastetzky, Hannah E O’Connell, Wei Zheng, Ann Marie M Howald, Evan M Garbaccio, Addison Teresa Mueller, and Christopher John Beatty.

• New paper accepted!

  • "Lamina cribrosa insertions into the sclera are sparser, narrower and more slanted in the anterior lamina" by IOVS

• The work was led by Fengting Ji. [Read for free in IOVS]

March, 2024

• Best wishes to Mingna Liu!

  • Mingna was a Visiting scholar in our lab doing research on Myopia.

• She is the Chief physician at the Eye Hospital in Shandong First Medical University.

• Best wishes to Nathan Naylor!

  • Nathan was a Mechanical Research Engineer working on fiber mechanics.

• Congratulations Bangquan Liao!

  • Bangquan successfully defended his Bioengineering MS dissertation.

• Bangquan obtained really intriguing data on differences between sclera structural and mechanical anisotropy.

• New paper accepted!

  • "The robust lamina cribrosa vasculature: Perfusion and oxygenation under elevated intraocular pressure" by IOVS

• The work was led by Yuankai Lu

February, 2024

• Best wishes to Po-Yi!

  • Po-Yi was a PhD student then a post-doc in our lab

• He has moved to Boston to be a post-doc at Harvard Medical School. [Po-Yi's Publications]

December, 2023

• New paper accepted!

  • "Fibrous finite element modeling of the optic nerve head region", by Acta Biomaterialia.

• The work was led by Mohammad Refatul Islam.

November, 2023

• New paper accepted!

  • "Direct measurements of collagen fiber recruitment in the posterior pole of the eye", by Acta Biomaterialia.

• The work was led by Po-Yi Lee.

• Congratulations Po-Yi Lee and Susannah Waxman!

  • Their entries won 1st and 2nd place of the 2023 ARVO Scientific Imaging Contest.

• Susannah's astrocyte work featured in Pitt Med Magazine

  • Susannah's astrocyte work was featured by PittMed Magazine. The piece is titled "Seeing Stars" [Link]. The paper underlying the work [Link].

October, 2023

• Dr.Sigal is now an ARVO Silver Fellow

  • By The Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology

• Congratulations Fengting Ji, PhD

  • Birth of her daughter! We wish the whole family health and happiness!!

• New paper accepted!

  • "2D or not 2D? Mapping the in-depth inclination of the collagen fibers of the corneoscleral shell", by Experimental eye research. [Link]

• The work was led by Fengting Ji.

• Miriam shared her work at the Data Club

  • Interesting update on her work on photomodulation.

• Podium presentation at Fox Vision Restoration Conference

  • Talk by Ian Sigal entitled "The mechanics of keeping axons happy". Pittsburgh, PA, October 10-11, 2023.

September, 2023

• ARVO Special Interest Group

  • Dr. Sigal presented our work on polarized light microscopy as part of the ARVO SIG Imaging technologies and analysis methods in ocular biomechanics. Full list of 2023 SIGs and recordings here. (requires ARVO membership to access)

• Susannah presented work at the CMU Biomedical Engineering forum.

  • Title: "All together or to each their own; lamina cribrosa astrocyte span as a potential enabler of cross-pore communication"

• Science Showcase

  • Dr. Sigal and Susannah Waxman shared with Department of Ophthalmology alumni and Eye & Ear Foundation donors some of the research that our lab does on visualization of astrocytes and collagen.

August, 2023

• Welcome Juana Yang, Sofia Lusvardi, Ruhani Gill and Shirin Kaye!

  • Undergraduate students at Pitt who will do research in our lab during the Fall 2023 term.

• Welcome Yingzhe Han!

  • Joins our lab as a visiting masters student from Xi'an Jiaotong University.

• Congratulations Fengting Ji!

  • Fengting passed her PhD defense with flying colors. Best wishes for the next stage of your life and career Dr. Ji!

July, 2023

• Farewell Mohammad Refatul Islam!

  • After several fantastic years with us, Mohammad is leaving to become an Assistant Professor at the University of Texas.

• Congratulations Po-Yi Lee!

  • Po-Yi Lee Po-Yi completed his PhD in July 2023 with us, and is now working as a Post-Doctoral Fellow.

• Welcome Xuehuan (Hellen) He!

  • Joins our lab as a Post-Doctoral Fellow.

• Welcome Julianna Werner!

  • Joins our lab as a part-time Research Assistant.

• Welcome Akshay Balaji!

  • Joins our lab as an Summer Student Researcher.

June, 2023

• Congratulations Po-Yi Lee!

  • Po-Yi Lee gave a podium presentation at the 11th Boston Taiwanese Biotechnology Association (BTBA) Annual Symposium in Boston, MA, July 8th.

• Welcome Ashley Linton!

  • Joins our lab as a Research Assistant.

• Two talks and two posters!

  • We presented two talks (by Ian Sigal and Yuankai Lu) and two posters (by Mohammad Islam and Andrew Theophanous) at SB3C (Summer Biomechanics, Bioengineering, and Biotransport Conference), Vail, CO, June 4-8, 2023.

• Two talks and two posters!

  • We presented two talks (by Yuankai Lu and Susannah Waxman) and two posters (by Mohammad Islam and Bingrui Wang) at Vision Research Day, June 2, 2023.

• Move complete!

  • We have moved to our new location in the UPMC Mercy Pavilion.

• Congratulations Mohammad Refatul Islam!

  • Delivered a seminar to the Ophthalmology Department, June 3, 2023.

May, 2023

• Attended the Sixteenth Postdoctoral Data & Dine Symposium!

  • Bingrui Wang, Miriam Bolhmann Kunz, and Yuankai Lu presented posters. May 24, 2023.

• New paper accepted!

  • A direct fiber approach to model sclera collagen architecture and biomechanics by Experimental Eye Research [Link to biorXiv]

• The work was led by Fengting Ji, with contributions by multiple people.

• New paper accepted!

  • Predatory Bacteria can Reduce Pseudomonas aeruginosa Induced Corneal Perforation and Proliferation in a Rabbit Keratitis Model by The Ocular Surface [Link to biorXiv]

• The work was led by Eric Romanowski and Rob Shanks here at Pitt.

• Clever application of "The enemy of my enemy is my friend"

April, 2023

• Susannah's astrocyte work was featured by Inside UPMC.

  • The piece titled "Seeing the unseen eye: astrocytes at the bridge to the brain" [Link]. The paper underlying the work [Link].

• Our lab participated in ARVO 2023 in fun New Orleans

  • Three podium presentations and three posters from our lab members.

• We also participated in three more podium presentations with collaborators from the Devers Eye Institute, and from the Singapore Eye Research Institute.

• Po-Yi Lee presented at ARVO Imaging in New Orleans

  • Podium presentation on High-resolution dual-modality imaging for collagen fibers and blood vessels in lamina cribrosa beams.

March, 2023

• Dr. Sigal visited West Virginia University at Morgantown.

  • Seminar on Ocular Biomechanics From the Bottom Up.

• Welcome Mingna Liu!

  • Joins our lab as a Visiting Scholar.

• New paper accepted!

  • Instant polarized light microscopy pi (IPOLπ) for quantitative imaging of collagen architecture and dynamics in ocular tissues by Optics and Lasers in Engineering [Link to biorXiv]

• In collaboration with Simon Watkins from CBI and Bin Yang at Duquesne University.

• New paper accepted!

  • Individual Astrocyte Morphology in the Collagenous Lamina Cribrosa Revealed by Multicolor DiOlistic Labeling by Experimental Eye Research [Link to biorXiv]

• In collaboration with Cara Donahue & Louis Falo Jr. from Pitt and Daniel Sun & Tatjana Jakobs from Harvard.

• New paper accepted!

  • “Who bears the load? IOP-induced collagen fiber recruitment over the corneoscleral shell” by Experimental Eye Research [Link to EER]

• In collaboration with Tian Foong from Pitt and Rouzbeh Amini at Northeastern University.

February, 2023

• Susannah gave a talk at the International Society for Eye Research conference in Gold Coast Australia

  • This work earned a travel award and is titled "Visualizing and Quantifying Individual Astrocyte Morphologies Across the Collagenous Lamina Cribrosa."

• Welcome Miriam Bohlmann Kunz!

  • Joins our lab as a post-doctoral fellow.

January, 2023

• Po-Yi Lee presented at ISER 2023

  • Podium presentation on Characterizing Femtosecond Laser Effects on Collagen

• Farewell Yi (Jason) Hua!

  • After several wonderful years with us, Jason is leaving to form his own lab at the University of Mississippi.

December, 2022

• eCover of Translational Vision Science and Technology!

  • "Comparing acute IOP-induced lamina cribrosa deformations pre-mortem and post-mortem" by Translational Vision Science and Technology [Link]

November, 2022

• Susannah's image featured in ISER newsletter!

  Coronal vibratome section through the goat lamina cribrosa labeled with Multicolor DiOlistics (MuDi). MuDi delivers microcarriers coated in all combinations of three spectrally distinct cell membrane dyes (DiD: red, DiO: green, DiI: blue) stochastically into individual cells across the tissue. Morphologies of individual cells are revealed and can be distinguished from their neighbors. DAPI-labeled cell nuclei and tissue autofluorescence are shown in gray. Volumetric mosaic images were acquired at 20 and 40x magnifications with an Olympus BX61 confocal microscope and are shown as maximum-intensity projections. [Link]

• New paper accepted!

  • "Stretch-induced uncrimping of equatorial sclera collagen bundles" by ASME Journal of Biomechanical [Link to ASME]

October, 2022

• New paper accepted!

  • "Comparing acute IOP-induced lamina cribrosa deformations pre-mortem and post-mortem" by Translational Vision Science and Technology. [Link to TVST]

  • In collaboration with the Smith lab at CMU, and with Joel Schuman and the Glaucoma Imaging Group at NYU.

August, 2022

• Welcome back Students!

  • Andrew Theophanous and Shaharoz Tahir rejoin our lab for the fall term.

• Welcome Hannah Schilpp!

  • Joins our lab as a Research Assistant.

• Welcome Grace Tavitas!

  • Joins our lab as a PhD student in Bioengineering.

• Welcome Bangquan Liao!

  • Joins our lab as a Graduate student in Research.

• Welcome Radhika Pande!

  • Joins our lab as a PhD student in Bioengineering.

July, 2022

• Good luck Marissa Quinn!

  • Marissa has been accepted to medical school. Thank you for all your work as a research assistant!

• New paper published!

  • "Evidence of an Annexin A4 mediated plasma membrane repair response to biomechanical strain associated with glaucoma pathogenesis", by Journal of Cellular Physiology. [Link]

  • A collaboration with Jeremy Sivak, Nevena Vicic, Xiaoxin Guo and Darren Chan from the University of Toronto, and John G Flanagan from U.C. Berkeley.

June, 2022

• Three Podium Presentations

  • By Mohammad Islam, Bingrui Wang, and Yi Hua. SB3C (Summer Biomechanics, Bioengineering, and Biotransport Conference), Cambridge, MD, June 20-23, 2022.

• Three posters and a podium presentation

  • By Mohammad Islam, Yuankai Lu, Bingrui Wang, and Marissa Quinn. Vision Research Day, June 3, 2022.

May, 2022

• New Gallery Tab

  • We have replaced the software tab with a gallery. Already added a few recordings of conference presentations and cool demos.

• Two Posters and a Podium Presentation

  • By Jason Hua, Susannah Waxman and Ian A. Sigal. ISER/Brightfocus Glaucoma Meeting, Atlanta, GA, May 24-27, 2022

• Three Poster Presentations

  • By Manik Bansal, Bingrui Wang and Yuankai Lu. University of Pittsburgh Postdoctoral Association (UPPDA) Data and Dine Symposium, Pittsburgh, PA, May 25, 2022

• Welcome Summer 2022 Students!

  • Andrew Theophanous, Shaharoz Tahir, Venkat Daita, Grace O'Malley, Isabella Mailer, Maya Iwabuchi (TECBio), John Maglosky (MEMS 1042) and Lucas Bechtold (MEMS 1042).

• Congratulations Spring 2022 MEMS Senior Design Team!

  • They won 3rd place in their department for their Bi-Axial Tensioning Device for Use in Ocular Tissue Microscopy at the Spring Design Expo! [Link]

• Our lab participated in ARVO 2022 (in person in Denver)

  • Two podium and three poster presentations.

April, 2022

• Congratulations Mohammad Refatul Islam!

  • He has been selected to receive post-doctoral support from the Vision sciences training program.

• Congratulations Po-Yi Lee!

  • The abstract he submitted to the World Congress of Biomechanics 2022 has been selected as a finalist for the Young Researcher (Pre-Doctoral) Award.

• New paper accepted!

  • "Eye-specific 3D modeling of factors influencing oxygen concentration in the lamina cribrosa" by Experimental Eye research. [Preprint PDF. Publisher link].

  Video 1:	Video 2:

March, 2022

• Welcome Spring 2022 Undergraduates!

• New Paper Accepted!

  • "A workflow for 3D reconstruction and quantification of the monkey optic nerve head vascular network" by ASME Journal of Biomechanical Engineering. [PDF, Link]

February, 2022

• Congratulations Susannah for winning an ARVO Travel Award!

  • She will present at the 2022 in-person ARVO meeting her work on "Astrocyte Morphology in the Collagenous Lamina Cribrosa Revealed by Multicolor DiOlistic Labeling"

• New Paper Accepted!

  • "A high-accuracy and high-efficiency digital volume correlation method to characterize in-vivo optic nerve head biomechanics from optical coherence tomography" by Acta Biomaterialia. [PDF, Link]

January, 2022

• New paper accepted!

  • Real-time imaging of optic nerve head collagen microstructure and biomechanics using instant polarized light microscopy" by Experimental Eye research. [Preprint in Biorxiv. Publisher link]

• Welcome Nathan Naylor!

  • Joins our lab as a Research engineer.

• Welcome Qi Tian!

  • Joins our lab as a Graduate student in Bioengineering.

December, 2021

• New paper accepted!

  • Lamina cribrosa vessel and collagen beam networks are distinct" by Experimental eye research. [Preprint in Biorxiv. Publisher link].

• Welcome Yuankai Lu, PhD!

  • Joins our lab as a post-doctoral fellow.

October, 2021

• Good luck Fuqiang Zhong!

  • Fuqiang was in our lab since February 2020. He is going back to China and we wish him the best.

• Congratulations Susannah!

  • She is one of two winners in Pitt's BGSA annual symposium poster session. Her poster was titled "Multicolor DiOlistic labeling reveals astrocyte morphology in the collagenous lamina cribrosa".

• New paper accepted!

  • Interplay between intraocular and intracranial pressure effects on the optic nerve head in vivo" by Experimental eye research. [Preprint in Biorxiv. Publisher link].

September, 2021

• Welcome back Bingrui Wang, PhD!

  • Joined our lab as post-doctoral fellow.

July, 2021

• Virtual poster presentation

  • Urjeet Deshmukh presented a virtual poster on "Virtual reality (VR) visualization of ocular hemodynamics models" as part of TECBio 2021.

• Good luck John Gnalian!

  • John has been accepted to medical school. It is difficult to believe that all the remarkable work that John did was in less than one year as a research assistant.

• Welcome Mohammad Retaful Islam, PhD

  • Joined our lab as a post-doctoral fellow.

June, 2021

• Stein Innovation Award to Dr. Sigal!

  • This prestigious award is given by Research to prevent blindness.

• Congratulations Susannah Waxman!

  • She passed her Comprehensive exam with flying colors. She is in the Cellular and molecular pathology program.

• Congratulations Po-Yi Lee!

  • For winning the 1st place in the PhD-level student paper competition at SB3C with the talk "Integrating capillary flow modeling and geometric quantification into reconstructed 3D capillary networks of the optic nerve head".

• Fantastic SB3C 2021 conference (June 14 - 18 virtual)

  • Four talks and two posters from our lab presented at SB3C (Summer biomechanics, bioengineering and biotransport conference).

May, 2021

• Welcome Urjeet Deshmukh!

  • He will do research with us this summer as part of the 2021 TECBio REU program. His project is titled "Virtual reality visualization of ocular hemodynamics models".

• Congratulations Susannah Waxman!

  • For winning a Poster of Distinction Award in the Cellular and Molecular Pathology research symposium. Poster: "3D reconstruction of collagen and vasculature in the lamina cribrosa reveals distinct networks."

• Fantastic participation of our lab in ARVO 2021 (May 1 - 7 virtual)

  • Our lab participated with three four podium and two one poster presentations (virtually).

April, 2021

• Congratulations Susannah Waxman!

  • For the top seminar presentation of the semester in the Cellular and Molecular Pathology program.

• Congratulations Jason Hua!

  • He has been awarded a Brightfocus Foundation post-doctoral fellowship to study the hemodynamics and biomechanics of the monkey lamina cribrosa.

March, 2021

• Congratulations Po-Yi Lee!

  • His abstract to SB3C was selected as a finalist of the PhD-level competition.

• Fengting wins ARVO Travel award!

  • She will present at the 2021 ARVO virtual meeting her work on "Mechanical properties of scleral collagen fibers obtained using a new fiber-based specimen-specific model of sclera microstructure".

• Jason wins ARVO Travel award!

  • He will present at the 2021 ARVO virtual meeting his work on "3D eye-specific analysis of factors influencing lamina cribrosa oxygen concentration".

• Fuqiang wins ARVO Travel award!

  • He will present at the 2021 ARVO virtual meeting his work on "In-vivo evidence of increased lamina cribrosa compliance at onset of experimental glaucoma in nonhuman primates".

February, 2021

January, 2021

• Welcome Marissa Quinn!

  • Joined our laboratory as a research assistant.

December, 2020

• Welcome John Gnalian!

  • Joined our laboratory as a research assistant.

October, 2020

• New paper accepted!

  • "Instant polarized light microscopy for imaging collagen microarchitecture and dynamics " by Journal of Biophotonics.[Publisher link Wiley]

• New paper accepted!

  • "So-called lamina cribrosa defects may mitigate IOP-induced neural tissue insult " by Investigative Ophthalmology and Visual Science. [Read for free in IOVS]

• eCover of Investigative Ophthalmology & Visual Science

  • "Lamina cribrosa capillaries straighten as intraocular pressure increases " [Read for free in IOVS]

September, 2020

• New paper accepted!

  • "Lamina cribrosa capillaries straighten as intraocular pressure increases" by Investigative Ophthalmology and Visual Science. [Read for free in IOVS]

• Three virtual presentations

  • Carnegie Mellon Forum on Biomedical Engineering (held virtually).

  • Po-Yi Lee presented "Real-time imaging of the stretch-induced changes in the optic nerve head collagen architecture".

  • Susannah Waxman presented "Lamina cribrosa capillaries straighten as intraocular pressure increases".

  • Grace Ingram presented "High-speed structured polarized light imaging of tissue dynamics". In collaboration with the Yang lab at Duquesne University..

• New grant awarded!

  • National Science Foundation, PI: Piervincenzo Rizzo.

  • Collaboration with Ian Conner, Samuel Dickerson and Robert Handzel.

  • "Managing glaucoma in the digital age: A new tonometer to connect patients to their caregivers".

  • PittWire News release.

August, 2020

• New paper accepted!

  • "Role of radially aligned scleral collagen fibers in optic nerve head biomechanics" by Experimental eye research. [Publisher link Elsevier]

July, 2020

• Two virtual presentations

  • Summer Biomechanics, Bioengineering and Biotransport Conference (SB3C). Held virtually June 17-20, 2020.

  • Po-Yi Lee presented "Direct visualization and measurement of stretch-induced uncrimping of the collagen fibers of the optic nerve head".

  • Yi (Jason) Hua presented "Tissue collagen fibers are often interwoven. So what? In support of considering fiber interweaving".

June, 2020

• Virtual talk and virtual poster

  • TECBio 2020 Symposium.

  • Pi'ilani Noguchi presented "Comparing the Collagen Structures in the Eye with Computer Simulated Images by Utilizing Histograms".

• New paper accepted!

  • "Collagen fiber interweaving is central to sclera stiffness" by Acta Biomaterialia.

• Grant Renewed!

  • R01 National Institutes of Health / National Eye Institute - PI:Sigal

  • "Optic nerve head microstructure, biomechanics and susceptibility to glaucoma".

• Congratulations Fuqiang Zhong!

  • He is now a post-doctoral fellow.

May, 2020

• Welcome Pi'ilani Noguchi!

  • She will do research with us this summer as part of the 2020 TECBio REU program

• Congratulations Susannah Waxman!

  • She has been selected to receive support from the Vision sciences training program grant.

April, 2020

• Congratulations Fuqiang Zhong!

  • Passed his PhD oral defense (via Zoom). Note that Fuqiang's PhD is from the National University of Singapore.

  • "Development of Digital Image Correlation (DIC) Technique for Engineering Measurement"

• Congratulations Ziyi Zhu!

  • Defended his MS research thesis in Bioengineering (via Zoom). Note that Fuqiang's PhD is from the National University of Singapore.

  • "Measuring 3D Optic Nerve Head Deformations using Digital Volume Correlation of in vivo Optical Coherence Tomography Data"

March, 2020

• Poster presentation

  • "Toward high-resolution three-dimensional reconstruction of optic nerve head vasculature via optical clearing" by Susannah Waxman

  • McGowan Institute for Regenerative Medicine Retreat 2020

  • A collaboration with the Loewen lab from the University of Wurzburg in Germany

February, 2020

• Congratulations Fengting Ji!

  • Her podium presentation "Support at the edge: lamina cribrosa beam insertions in sheep, pig, monkey and human" was awarded first place at the Pitt BioE Day 2020, Pittsburgh, PA, Feb 27, 2020.

• Poster presentation

  • "Biaxial mechanical testing of interweaving and non-interweaving fibers" by Anish Puligilla

  • Pitt BioE Day 2020, Pittsburgh, PA, Feb 27, 2020.

• Invited lecture by Yi (Jason) Hua

  • "Biomechanics of the central nervous system"

  • Department of Biomedical Engineering, Michigan Technological University, Houghton, MI, Feb 20, 2020.

• Welcome Manik Bansal

  • As a Post-doctoral fellow to work on soft tissue micromechanics.

• Welcome Fuqiang Zhong

  • As a Health research scholar to work on in-vivo optic nerve head biomechanics.

• Podium presentation

  • 9th International Bio-Fluid Mechanics and Vascular Mechano-Biology Symposium, Tucson, AZ, Feb 13-16, 2020.

  • "Individual-Specific Modeling Of Hemodynamics In The Posterior Pole Of The Eye" by Yi (Jason) Hua.

• Two podium presentations

  • SPIE Photonics West, San Francisco, California, Feb 1-6, 2020.

  • "Multi-scale elastography: imaging the collagen fibers and their interactions during mechanical testing" by Ian Sigal.

  • "Instant polarized light microscopy for real-time wide-field visualization of collagen architecture" by Po-Yi Lee.

January, 2020

• Lab featured by PittMed

  • "The Forest, the Trees and the Leaves" article and video combo. (Shown in Home)

• New paper accepted

  • "Connective tissue remodeling in myopia and its potential role in increasing risk of glaucoma" by Current opinion in biomedical engineering.

  • In collaboration with Rafael Grytz and Brian Samuels from the University of Alabama Birmingham, and Hongli Yang from the Devers eye institute in Portland.

• Welcome Susannah Waxman

  • As a PhD student in the Interdisciplinary Biomedical Sciences Program.

November, 2019

• Invited lecture by Ian Sigal

  • Duquesne University, Department of Engineering, Pittsburgh, PA, Nov 20, 2019.

October, 2019

• Podium and poster presentations

  • ISER/Brightfocus 2019 Concepts and breakthroughs in glaucoma symposium, Atlanta, GA, Oct 23-26, 2019.

• Poster presentation by Gosia Fryc

  • Science 2019, University of Pittsburgh.

• Ian Sigal promoted

  • Dr. Sigal, director of the Laboratory of Ocular Biomechanics is now Associate professor with tenure.

September, 2019

• New paper accepted

  • "A mesh-free approach to incorporate complex anisotropic and heterogeneous material properties into eye-specific finite element models" by Computer Methods in Applied Mechanics and Engineering.

  • In collaboration with Rafael Grytz, Chris Girkin and C. Downs and the Department of Ophthalmology at the University of Alabama Birmingham.

August, 2019

• Good luck Bryn Brazile!

  • Bryn will join Baxter as a Senior engineer. He was a post-doctoral fellow from August 2016.

• New paper accepted

  • "Scleral structure and biomechanics" by Progress in retinal and eye research.

  • In collaboration with Craig Boote from Cardiff University, Rafael Grytz from University of Alabama Birmingham, Thao D. Nguyen from Johns Hopkins University and Michael JA Girard from the National University of Singapore.

July, 2019

• Good luck Bin Yang!

  • Bin will join Duquesne University as an Assistant professor. He was a post-doctoral fellow from July 2016.

• Congratulations Yi (Jason) Hua and Bryn Brazile!

  • Have been awarded a travel fellowships to attend the ISER/BrightFocus Glaucoma Symposium in Atlanta, GA this October.

June, 2019

• Congratulations Po-Yi Lee and Gosia Fryc!

  • Their abstracts to SB3C were selected as finalists of the PhD and BS-level competition.

• Three podium and three poster presentations

  • Summer Biomechanics, Bioengineering and Biotransport Conference (SB3C), Seven Springs, PA, June 25-28, 2019.

• Congratulations Fengting Ji and Po-Yi Lee!

  • Both did very well in their PhD qualifying exams.

• Podium and poster presentations

  • 2019 Vision science research day, University of Pittsburgh.

May, 2019

• Inaugural Boisjoly lecture by Ian Sigal

  • University of Montreal, Montreal, QC, Canada.

• Rich lecture by Ian Sigal

  • University of Alabama, Birmingham.

April, 2019

• Two Podium and one poster presentations

  • ARVO (meeting of the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology), Vancouver, BC, Canada, April 28-May 1, 2019.

• Podium and poster presentations

  • ARVO Imaging in the Eye, Vancouver, BC, Canada, April 27, 2019.

• Poster presentation by Po-Yi Lee

  • University of Pittsburgh Bioengineering Day, April 4, 2019.

March, 2019

• Two poster presentations

  • McGowan Institute for Regenerative Medicine Retreat, Pittsburgh, PA, March 12, 2019.

November, 2018

• Special lecture by Ian Sigal

  • Lions eye institute, University of Western Australia, Perth Australia.

• Invited talk by Ian Sigal

  • Optics within life science meeting, Rottnest Island, Western Australia.

• Podium and poster presentations

  • Biomaterials Day 2018, University of Pittsburgh. Talk by Bingrui Wang, Poster by Tian Foong.

October, 2018

• Podium presentation by Ian Sigal

  • Department of mechanical science and bioengineering, Osaka University, Japan.

• Special lecture by Ian Sigal

  • Biofrontier symposium, Chiba university, Japan.

• Poster presentation by Tian Foong

  • Science 2018, University of Pittsburgh.

• Poster presentation by Bingrui Wang

  • BMES meeting, Atlanta.

• eCover of Investigative Ophthalmology & Visual Science

  • "Radial and circumferential collagen fibers are a feature of the peripapillary sclera of human, monkey, pig, cow, goat and sheep"

September, 2018

• Congratulations Po-Yi Lee!

  • His poster "Snapshot polarized light microscopy for quantifying collagen fiber orientation in ocular tissues" with Bin Yang was awarded first place at the Carnegie Mellon Forum on Biomedical Engineering, Pittsburgh, PA, September 21, 2018.

• New paper accepted

  • "Structured polarized light microscopy for collagen fiber structure and orientation quantification in thick ocular tissues" by Journal of Biomedical Optics.

August, 2018

• New paper accepted

  • "Radial and circumferential collagen fibers are a feature of the peripapillary sclera of human, monkey, pig, cow, goat and sheep" by IOVS.

• New paper accepted

  • "Thin lamina cribrosa beams have different collagen microstructure than thick beams" by IOVS.

• New paper accepted

  • "Peripapillary sclera architecture revisited: A tangential fiber model and its biomechanical implications" by Acta Biomaterialia.

• Welcome Fengting Ji

  • Joined our laboratory as a PhD student in Bioengineering.

• Welcome Po-Yi Lee

  • Joined our laboratory as a PhD student in Bioengineering.

  
  

July, 2018

• Two podium presentations:

  • World Congress of Biomechanics, Dublin, Ireland, July 8-12, 2018.

  
  

June, 2018

• Congratulations Dr. Jan!

  • Ninj did a great job on her PhD Dissertation defense on June 15th.

• Podium presentation by Jason Hua

  • Vision Research Day, UPMC Department of Ophthalmology, Pittsburgh, PA, June 08, 2018.

  
  

May, 2018

• Podium presentation:

  • ARVO Imaging meeting, Honolulu, HI, April 27, 2018.

• Two podium and one poster presentation:

  • Meeting of the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology, Honolulu, HI, April 28 - May 3, 2018.

• New paper accepted

  • "Spatial patterns and age-related changes of the collagen crimp in the human cornea and sclera" by IOVS.

  • In collaboration with Kevin Chan at NYU.

• Congratulations Junchao Wei!

  • His work on "Measuring in-vivo and in-situ ex-vivo the 3D deformation of the lamina cribrosa microstructure under elevated intraocular pressure" received a Best Poster Presentations award at the 2018 Postdoctoral Data & Dine Symposium in Pittsburgh.

  
  

April, 2018

• New paper accepted

  • "Tortuous pore path through the glaucomatous lamina cribrosa" by Scientific reports.

  • In collaboration with Gadi Wollstein, Joel Schuman, Hiroshi Ishkawa, Larry Kagemann and the rest of the Glaucoma imaging group at New York University.

• New paper accepted

  • "Crimp around the globe: Patterns of collagen crimp across the corneoscleral shell" by Experimental eye research.

• New paper accepted

  • "Polarized light microscopy for 3D mapping of collagen fiber architecture in ocular tissues" by Journal of Biophotonics.

  
  

March, 2018

• New paper accepted

  • "Seeing the hidden lamina; Effects of exsanguination on the optic nerve head" by IOVS.

  • In collaboration with the Matt smith at Pitt and Gadi Wollstein at NYU

• New paper accepted

  • "Collagen fiber recruitment: a microstructural basis for the nonlinear response of the posterior pole of the eye to increases in intraocular pressure" by Acta Biomaterialia.

  
  

February, 2018

• New conference proceedings published

  • "Structured polarized light microscopy (SPLM) for mapping collagen fiber orientation of ocular tissue" by SPIE Proceedings.

• New conference proceedings published

  • "Measuring in-vivo and in-situ ex-vivo the 3D deformation of the lamina cribrosa microstructure under elevated intraocular pressure" by SPIE Proceedings.

  • In collaboration with Gadi Wollstein and Joel Schuman from New York University and Matthew Smith from the University of Pittsburgh.

• Good luck Andrew Voorhees!

  • Andrew was a post-doctoral fellow from May 2015 to February 2018. He will join Johnson & Johnson.

  
  

January, 2018

• Congratulations Bryn Brazile!

  • Has been awarded a Knights Templar Eye Foundation (US) travel grant to attend and present at the upcoming ARVO 2018 annual meeting in Hawaii later this year. His project is titled "Simultaneous in-situ visualization and quantification of lamina cribrosa collagen beams and capillaries at normal and elevated IOPs"

• Three podium presentations

  • SPIE Photonics West, San Francisco, California, Jan 27 - Feb 1, 2018.

  
  

December, 2017

• New paper accepted

  • "Gaze evoked deformations in optic nerve head drusen: repetitive shearing as a potential factor in the visual and vascular complications" by Ophthalmology.

  • In collaboration with Patrick Sibony, SUNY Stony Brook.

  
  

November, 2017

• New paper accepted

  • "Cerebrospinal Fluid Pressure; Revisiting Factors Influencing Optic Nerve Head Biomechanics" by IOVS.

• New paper accepted

  • "In-Vivo Effects of Intraocular and Intracranial Pressures on the Lamina Cribrosa Microstructure" by PLOS One.

  • In collaboration with the Visual Neuroscience Lab at the University of Pittsburgh and the Glaucoma Imaging Group at New York University

  
  

October, 2017

• Podium presentation - Andrew Voorhees

  • BMES 2017 - Biomedical Engineering Society Annual Meeting, Phoenix, AZ. Oct 11-14, 2017.

• Poster presentation - Bryn Brazile

  • Science 2017, Pittsburgh, PA, October 18-20, 2017.

• Congratulations Andrew Voorhees!

  • His work on "Reconsidering the Mechanical Function of the Lamina Cribrosa" received an award during the ISER/Brightfocus 2017 Glaucoma Symposium, Atlanta, GA, Oct 5-8, 2017

• Welcome Bingrui Wang

  • She will work with us as a Research visiting student from Southwest Jiatong University

• Two presentations

  • Basic science catalyzing treatments for glaucoma ISER/Brightfocus 2017 Glaucoma Symposium, Atlanta, GA, Oct 5-8, 2017

  
  

September, 2017

• New paper accepted

  • "Lamina Cribrosa Pore Shape and Size as Predictors of Neural Tissue Mechanical Insult"
    by IOVS.

  
  

August, 2017

• New paper accepted

  • "Formalin Fixation and Cryosectioning Cause Only Minimal Changes in Shape or Size of Ocular Tissues"
    by Scientific Reports.

• Welcome Tian Yong Foong

  • Joined our lab as a Masters student in Bioengineering.
    

• New paper accepted

  • "Location of the Central Retinal Vessel Trunk in the Laminar and Prelaminar Tissue of Healthy and Glaucomatous Eyes"
    by Scientific Reports.

  • In collaboration with the Glaucoma Imaging Group at New York University.

  
  

July, 2017

• Andrew wins a travel award

  • He will attend the ISER/Brightfocus Glaucoma Symposium in Atlanta to present his work on "Reconsidering the mechananical function of the lamina cribrosa".

  
  

June, 2017

• Workshop on the future of ocular biomechanics

  • "Ocular Biomechanics: What's our vision?", during the Summer Biomechanics, Bioengineering and Biotransport Conference (SB3C), Tucson, AZ, June 21-24, 2017

• Two podium presentations

  • Summer Biomechanics, Bioengineering and Biotransport Conference (SB3C), Tucson, AZ, June 21-24, 2017

  
  

May, 2017

• New paper accepted

  • "Effects of collagen microstructure and material properties on the deformation of the neural tissues of the lamina cribrosa"
    by Acta Biomaterialia.

• New paper accepted

  • "Whole-globe biomechanics using high-field MRI"
    by Experimental Eye Research.

  • In collaboration with Kevin Chan, New York University.

• New paper accepted

  • "Microstructural Crimp of the Lamina Cribrosa and Peripapillary Sclera Collagen Fibers"
    by IOVS.

• Four podium presentations

  • University of Pittsburgh Postdoctoral Association (UPPDA) Data and Dine Symposium, Pittsburgh, PA, May 16, 2017

• Six poster presentations

  • Meeting of the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology, Baltimore, May 7-11, 2017

• Welcome Junchao Wei, PhD

  • Joined our lab as a postdoctoral fellow

• Jacob Wallace

  • Has left our lab to study Medicine. Good luck Jake!

  
  

April, 2017

• Congratulations Huong Tran

  • Awarded a MS in Bioengineering.

• Congratulations Shweta Ravichandar, Katriona Blezy, Kelly Appleton, and Roy Tan Park Sung

  • Best Overall Project Award. SSoE Design Expo, for the project "A Robust Biomechanical Culture System for Tissue Engineered Corneas"
    Co-mentored by Andrew Voorhees, PhD.

  • 

• Poster Presentation

  • 2017 ISMRM 2017, Honolulu, HI, April 22-27 (in collaboration with Kevin C. Chan from NYU)

• One podium and one poster presentation

  • Computational and Mathematical Biomedical Engineering, Pittsburgh, PA, April 10-12, 2017.

  
  

March, 2017

• New paper accepted (link)

  • "Thick prelaminar tissue decreases lamina cribrosa visibility"
    by IOVS.

  • In collaboration with Gadi Wollstein, Joel Schuman and the Glaucoma Imaging Group at New York University.

• New paper accepted (journal)

  • "An imaged-based inverse finite element method to determine in-vivo mechanical properties of human trabecular meshwork"
    by Journal for Modeling in Ophthalmology.

  • In collaboration with R Amini, AD Pant, L Kagemann and JS Schuman.

• New review paper accepted (link)

  • "Biomechanical aspects of axonal damage in glaucoma: A brief review"
    by Experimental Eye Research.

  • In collaboration with C. Stowell, C Burgoyne, ER Tamm, CR Ethier and the Lasker/IRRF Initiative on Astrocytes and Glaucomatous Neurodegeneration Participants.

• New review paper accepted (link)

  • "Biological aspects of axonal damage in glaucoma: A brief review"
    by Experimental Eye Research.

  • In collaboration with ER Tamm, CR Ethier and the Lasker/IRRF Initiative on Astrocytes and Glaucomatous Neurodegeneration Participants.

  
  

February, 2017

• New paper accepted (link)

  • "Correlation between cerebral hemodynamic and perfusion pressure changes in non-human primates"
    by SPIE Proceedings.

  • In collaboration with Alex Ruesch and Jana Kainerstorfer from Carnegie Mellon University, Gadi Wollstein from New York University and Samantha Nelson and Matt Smith from the University of Pittsburgh.

    
    

January, 2017

• Cover of Investigative Ophthalmology & Visual Science (link)

  • Collagen Architecture of the Posterior Pole:
    High-Resolution Wide Field of View Visualization and Analysis Using Polarized Light Microscopy;

• New paper accepted (link)

  • "Mapping in-vivo optic nerve head strains caused by intraocular and intracranial pressure"
    by SPIE Proceedings.

• Two podium presentations (one invited)

  • SPIE Photonics West, San Francisco, California, Jan 28 - Feb 2, 2017.

• Oxyopia lecture (invited)

  • University of California at Berkeley, California, Jan 27, 2017.

December, 2016

• Four podium presentations

  • BioE Intramural Internship: Morgan Austin, Emma Hudertmark, Nick Krall and Felipe Suntaxi.

• New paper accepted

  • "Development of computational tools for analyzing 3D in vivo deformations of monkey optic nerve head""
    by Ingenium.

  • Read the paper here.

• New paper accepted

  • "Collagen architecture of the posterior pole; high-resolution, wide-field-of-view visualization and analysis using polarized light microscopy"
    by Investigative Ophthalmology and Visual Science.

  
  

October, 2016

• Two poster presentations

  • BMES 2016 - Biomedical Engineering Society Annual Meeting, Minneapolis, MN. Oct 5-8, 2016.

• Three poster presentations

  • Science 2016: Game Changers, Pittsburgh, PA, October 19-21, 2016.

  
  

September, 2016

• Invited seminar

  • National University of Singapore, Singapore.

• Podium presentation

  • XXII Biennial Meeting of the International Society for Eye Research, Tokyo Japan.

  
  

August, 2016

• Welcome Yi (Jason) Hua, PhD

  • Joined our laboratory as a post-doctoral fellow.

• Welcome Po Lam

  • Joined our laboratory as a research assistant.

• New paper accepted

  • "Non-invasive MRI Assessments of Tissue Microstructures and Macromolecules in the Eye upon Biomechanical or Biochemical Modulation"
    by Scientific Reports. In collaboration with Kevin C. Chan.

  
  

July, 2016

• New paper accepted

  • "Experimental glaucoma causes optic nerve head neural rim tissue compression: a potentially important mechanism of axon injury"
    by Investigative Ophthalmology and Visual Science. In collaboration with Brad Fortune.

• New paper accepted

  • "Identifying the Palisades of Vogt in Human Ex-vivo Tissue"
    by The Ocular Surface. In collaboration with Kira Lathrop.

• Welcome Bryn Brazile, PhD

  • Joined our laboratory as a post-doctoral fellow.

• Welcome Bin Yang, PhD

  • Joined our laboratory as a post-doctoral fellow.

• Best wishes to Danielle Hu

  • She is leaving our lab to start medical school. Good luck Danielle!

  
  

June, 2016

• Two podium and a poster presentations

  • 2016 SB3C - Summer Biomechanics, Bioengieering and Biotransport Conference, National Harbor, Maryland. June 29 - July 2, 2016

• Five poster presentations

  • 2016 Annual International Conference on Vision Restoration: Regenerative Medicine in Ophthalmology, Pittsburgh, PA, June 20-21, 2016

• New paper accepted

  • "What is a typical optic nerve head?"
    by Experimental Eye Research.

  
  

May, 2016

• Special Chair Guest Lecture

  • Department of Ophthalmology, University of Michigah, Ann Arbor, MI, May 23, 2016

• Poster presentation

  • University of Pittsburgh Postdoctoral Association (UPPDA) Data and Dine Symposium, Pittsburgh, PA, May 17, 2016

• Ground Rounds Lecture

  • Stony Brook Department of Ophthalmology, Stony Brook, NY, May 12, 2016

• Welcome Jacob Wallace and Rafique Khan

  • Joined our laboratory as research assistants

• Four podium and eight poster presentations at ARVO

  • Meeting of the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology, Seattle, WA, May 1-5, 2016

  
  

April, 2016

• One podium and three poster presentations at ARVO Imaging

  • ARVO Imaging in the Eye Conference, Seattle, WA, April 30, 2016

• Congratulations Alexander Mace, Zeyu Tong and Jinxian Zhao

  • 2nd place in the Swanson School of Engineering Design Expo April 2016

• Congratulations Andrew Voorhees

  • Awarded a second year of support from the Department of Ophthalmology's Interdisciplinary Visual Sciences Training Program

• Congratulations Felipe Suntaxi

  • Awarded a 2016 Summer Research Internship By the Department of Bioengineering

• New paper accepted

  • "Decreased lamina cribrosa beam thickness and pore diameter relative to distance from the central retinal vessel trunk"
    by IOVS (Investigative Ophthalmology and Visual Science). In collaboration with the Glaucoma Imaging Group.

• Invited podium presentation

  • Department of Biomedical Engineering, The Ohio State University

• Congratulations Ziyi Zhu

  • Awarded a 2016 Summer Research Fellowship By the Swanson School of Engineering

  
  

March, 2016

• Postdoc position in elastography and image registration Closed

  Postdoc or research assistant position in structured illumination Closed

  • Please contact us if interested and qualified.

• Two invited podium presentations

  • New York University Department of Ophthalmology and Tandon School of Engineering, New York NY, March 21, 2016

• One podium and three poster presentations

  • McGowan Institute for Regenerative Medicine Annual Retreat, Farmington PA, March 6-8, 2016

• New paper accepted

  • "Regionally Discrete Aqueous Humor Outflow Quantification Using Fluorescein Canalograms"
    by PLOS ONE. In collaboration with the Loewen lab.

• Welcome Vikram Gomatam, PhD

  • Joined our laboratory as a visiting research fellow
    

  
  

February, 2016

• Applications for summer research are CLOSED

  • We have received several times more applications than we can fill.
    Thank you all for your interest.
    We will have a new round of projects in the fall.

• Grant awarded

  • FY2016 Stimulating Pittsburgh Research in Geroscience (SPRIG)
    In Collaboration with Kevin Chan.

• Congratulations Andrew

  • Awarded a Knights Templar Eye Foundation Travel Grant.

• Positions Available Closed

  • Post-doctoral fellow in soft-tissue biomechanics and imaging
    

  • Research assistant in histology, microscopy and image analysis
    

  
  

January, 2016

• New paper accepted

  • "MAPS - a Magic Angle Positioning System for Enhanced Imaging in High-Field Small-Bore MRI"
    by Journal of Medical Robotics Research.

• Welcome Spring MEMS 1043 Senior Design Project students

  • Alexander Mace, Zeyu Tong and Jingxian Zhao
    

• Welcome Spring 2016 Undergraduate Research students

  • Karlie Brasch (FER), Jennifer Panza (FER), Emma Chen (FER), Brienna Roys (FER), Jin Yu Li (FER), Shumeng Yang and Eric Sou Ying Dong
    

December, 2015

• Congratulations Joshua Selling, Morgan Skapik, Nicholas Cox and Rachel Rohr

  • 2nd place in the Swanson School of Engineering Design Expo 2015
    

• Congratulations Cindy Jiao and Jacob Wallace

  • Awarded Brackenridge Fellowships by the University of Pittsburgh Honors College
    

• New Post-Doctoral Position Available Closed

  • New post-doctoral fellow position in soft-tissue biomechanics and imaging
    

• eCover of Biomedical Optics Express

  • "Polarization Microscopy for Characterizing Fiber Orientation of Ocular Tissues"
    has been selected for the eCover of the December 2015 issue
    by Biomedical Optics Express.

    
    

November, 2015

• New paper accepted

  • "Use And Misuse of Laplace's Law in Ophthalmology"
    by IOVS (Investigative Ophthalmology and Visual Science).

• Letter to the editor accepted

  • "A problem of proportions in OCT-based morphometry and a proposed solution"
    by IOVS (Investigative Ophthalmology and Visual Science).

October, 2015

• New paper accepted

  • "Polarization Microscopy for Characterizing Fiber Orientation of Ocular Tissues"
    by Biomedical Optics Express.

• Eight poster presentations at Science 2015

  • Science 2015- Unleashed!, Pittsburgh, PA, October 7-9, 2015

• Poster presentation at BMES

  • Annual Meeting of the Biomedical Engineering Society, Tampa, Florida, October 7-10, 2015

September, 2015

• Grant Awarded

  • R01 National Institutes of Health - PI: Sigal, PI:Wollstein, Co-I:Smith

• Welcome new Fall 2015 Undergraduate research students

  • Cindy Jiao, Mikayla Ferchaw.

August, 2015

• New Post-doctoral fellow position available Closed

  • Soft tissue biomechanics and imaging.

• New Post-doctoral fellow position available Closed

  • Image Analysis.

• Welcome Danielle Hu, BS

  •  Joined our laboratory as a research assistant.

July, 2015

• Congratulations Larry Kagemann and coauthors

  • For the publication of a peer-reviewed video in JoVE - the Journal of Visualized Experiments:
    "Trabecular Meshwork Response to Pressure Elevation in the Living Human Eye"
    (subscription required to see the video)

June, 2015

• One podium and two poster presentations at the Fox Vision Restoration Conference

  •  5th Annual Conference on Vision Restoration: Regenerative Medicine in Ophthalmology, Pittsburgh, PA, June 25-26, 2015.

• Podium presentation by Ian at SB3C

  •  Summer Biomechanics, Bioengineering and Biotransport Conference, Snowbird, UT, June 17-20, 2015.

• Two podium and poster presentations at Vision Research Day

  • Vision Research Day, UPMC Department of Ophthalmology, Pittsburgh, PA, June 18, 2015

• Welcome Alexandra Judisch, MS

  •  Joined our laboratory as a systems analyst/programmer.

May, 2015

• Welcome Andrew Voorhees, PhD

  •  Joined our laboratory as a post-doctoral fellow.

• Nine podium and poster presentations at ARVO

• Meeting of the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology, Denver, CO, May 3-7, 2015.

• Seven podium and poster presentations at ARVO Imaging

  • 2015 ARVO Imaging in the Eye Conference, Denver, CO, May 2, 2015.

• New paper accepted

  • "Histogram Matching Extends Acceptable Signal Strength Range on Optical Coherence Tomography Images"
    by IOVS (Investigative Ophthalmology and Visual Science).
    In collaboration with the Glaucoma Imaging Group.

• Welcome 2015 Summer undergraduate students

  • Michael Iasella, Garrett Grube, Jeremy Teichmann, Jennifer Ten Eyck, William Walters, Jacob Wallace, Yiyao Shi, David Tsui, Mason Lester, Andrew Levandoski, Zach Adgate, Yujie Mu and Jon Drobitch.

April, 2015

• Congratulations Garrett Grube

  •  Awarded a Summer Research Internship by the Swanson school of engineering (co-supported by our lab).

• Congratulations Jeremy Teichmann

  •  Awarded a Summer Research Internship by the Swanson school of engineering to work with Dr. Wollstein and our lab (co-supported by Dr. Wollstein and Dr. Sigal).

• Two poster presentations

  •  University of Pittsburgh Bioengineering Day 2015: Sustainability in Biotechnology. April 16, 2015.

• New paper accepted

  • "In vivo Evaluation of White Matter Integrity and Anterograde Transport in Visual System after Excitotoxic Retinal Injury with Multimodal MRI and OCT"
    by IOVS (Investigative Ophthalmology and Visual Science).
    In collaboration with Kevin C. Chan's Lab.

• New position Closed

  • Research assistant (Co-supported by Ocular Biomechanics, Glaucoma Imaging and Visual Neuroscience Labs)

March, 2015

• Invited presentation

  • Lasker / IRRF meeting. HHMI, Janelia Farms, March 8-11, 2015

• Two poster presentations

  • McGowan Institute for Regenerative Medicine Annual Retreat, Farmington PA, March 8-10, 2015

February, 2015

• Grant Awarded

  • Glaucoma Research Foundation Shaffer Grant (Smith PI, Sigal Co-I and Wollstein Co-I)

January, 2015

• New Position Closed

  • Postdoctoral fellow in soft tissue biomechanics.

• New Position Closed

  • Postdoctoral fellow in ophthalmic imaging.

• New Position Closed

  • Programmer with image processing experience.

• New paper accepted

  • "Trabecular Meshwork Response to Pressure Elevation in the Living Human Eye" by Journal of Visualized Experiments.
    In collaboration with Larry Kagemann and the Glaucoma Imaging Group.

December, 2014

• New paper published

  • "Parameters for lithium treatment are critical in its enhancement of fracture-healing
    in rodents" in Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery, American Volume.

October, 2014

• Poster presentation at BMES

  • Annual Meeting of the Biomedical Engineering Society,
    San Antonio, Texas, October 22-25, 2014

• Seven poster presentations at Science 2014

  • Science 2014: Sustain It!, Pittsburgh, PA, October 1-3, 2014

September, 2014

• New paper accepted

  • "In Vivo Three-Dimensional Characterization of the Healthy Human Lamina Cribrosa with Adaptive Optics Spectral-Domain Optical Coherence Tomography" by IOVS (Investigaive Ophthalmology and Visual Science)

August, 2014

• Grant Renewed

  • R01 National Institutes of Health - PI: Schuman, Sigal (Co-I)

• Invited podium presentation at GRS

  • Glaucoma Research Society Meeting, Jackson Hole Wyoming, August 27-30, 2014

• New paper accepted

  • "Application of Elliptic Fourier Analysis to Describe the Lamina Cribrosa Shape with Age and Intraocular Pressure", by Experimental Eye Research

July, 2014

• New paper accepted

  • "Magic Angle-Enhanced MRI Of Fibrous Microstructures In Sclera And Cornea With And Without Intraocular Pressure Loading" by IOVS (Investigative Ophthalmology and Visual Science)

• Three invited podium presentations at ISER

  • XXI meeting of the International Society for Eye Research, San Francisco, CA, July 20-24, 2014

• Podium presentation at the WCB

  • 7th World Congress of Biomechanics, Boston, MA, July 6-11, 2014

June, 2014

• Congratulations Celeste Gomez

• Awarded a Fight for Sight summer student fellowship

• Completed her BSc degree in Biology

• Congratulations James Constantin and Yuqi Wang

• Awarded support for summer research by the Department of bioengineering, University of Pittsburgh

• Congratulations Saundria Moed

• Awarded support for summer research by the Swanson school of engineering, University of Pittsburgh

• Congratulations Yoonsoo Kim

• Completed his BSc degree in Biology

• Three poster presentations on Vision Restoration

• Vision Restoration: Regenerative Medicine in Ophthalmology, Pittsburgh, PA, June 23-24, 2014

• Three poster and podium presentations at Vision Research Day

• Vision Research Day, UPMC Department of Ophthalmology, Pittsburgh, PA, June 13, 2014

May, 2014

• New paper accepted

  • "Recent Advances in OCT Imaging of the Lamina Cribrosa" by British Journal of Ophthalmology

• Welcome Summer Research Students

  • 13 Undergraduate students will participate in summer research projects

• Twelve podium and poster presentations at ARVO

• Meeting of the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology (ARVO), Orlando, FL, May 4-8, 2014.

• Four podium and poster presentations at ISIE

  • Meeting of the International Society for Imaging of the Eye (ISIE), Orlando, FL, May 3, 2014.

  • Congratulations Ninj and Leon on your excellent talks!

April, 2014

• New paper accepted

  • "Translating Ocular Biomechanics into Clinical Practice: Current State and Future Prospects" by Current Eye Research.

March, 2014

• Grant Awarded

  • R01 National Institutes of Health - PI: Sigal

• New paper accepted

  • "Reproducibility of In-Vivo OCT Measured Three-Dimensional Human Lamina Cribrosa Microarchitecture" by PLOS One.

• Three poster presentations at the McGowan retreat.

  • McGowan Institute 2014 Scientific Retreat, Nemacolin Woodlands, Farmington, PA March 9-11, 2014

February, 2014

• New paper accepted

  • "A Method to Estimate Biomechanics and Mechanical Properties of Optic Nerve Head Tissues From Parameters Measurable Using Optical Coherence Tomography" by IEEE Transactions on Medical Imaging.

• New paper accepted

  • "Characterization of Schlemm’s Canal Cross-Sectional Area" by Biomedical Optics Express.

• New paper accepted

  • "IOP Elevation Reduces Schlemm’s Canal Cross-sectional Area" by IOVS.

• New paper accepted

  • "Repeatability of in vivo 3D lamina cribrosa microarchitecture using adaptive optics spectral domain optical coherence tomography" by Biomedical Optics Express.

January, 2014

• New paper accepted

  • "Gold Nanorods as a Contrast Agent for Doppler Optical Coherence Tomography" accepted for publication by PLOS One.

• New paper accepted

  • "Eye-Specific IOP-Induced Displacements
    and Deformations of Human Lamina Cribrosa"

  • Our paper was selected for the eCover of IOVS January 2014.

  • Read the research highlight by Thao D. Nguyen of Johns Hopkins:
    "A Significant Advance in the Biomechanical Evaluation of the Optic Nerve Head"