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Laboratory of
Ocular Biomechanics

University of Pittsburgh


Faculty

  • Dr. Ian Sigal

    Ian A. Sigal, Ph.D. - Associate Professor

    Dr. Sigal received a B.Sc. in Physics from the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, México City (1999), a M.A.Sc. in Aerospace Engineering from the University of Toronto, Canada (2001), and a Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering (Collaborative program in Biomedical Engineering) also from the University of Toronto, Canada (2006). Dr. Sigal has dedicated his scientific career to the study of biomechanics-related diseases of the eye, and to glaucoma in particular. During his PhD he pioneered methods for computational modeling of the eye to understand why some individuals develop glaucoma while others do not. He continued to refine these techniques as a post-doc and then as a research associate at the Devers Eye Institute in Portland Oregon. In October 2010 he joined the University of Pittsburgh and founded the Laboratory of Ocular Biomechanics.
    The laboratory receives support from the National Institutes of Health, the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, The Glaucoma Research Foundation and others. Current projects in the laboratory include the development of novel techniques to characterize connective tissue architecture and biomechanics, and the study of in-vivo effects of intraocular and intracranial pressures.


    ian@ocularbiomechanics.com

    Google Scholar


 

Post-doctoral fellows

  • Dr. Wang

    Bingrui Wang, PhD - Post-doctoral fellow

    Dr. Wang received her B.Sc. in Engineering Mechanics from Southwest Jiaotong University, China (2010), a M.Sc. and a Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering from Southwest Jiaotong University, China (2014 and 2021). She was a visiting student at the University of Pittsburgh (2017-2019). Her research interest includes the biomechanics of soft tissues, especially the constitutive modeling and hyperelastic response of soft biological tissue reinforced by collagen fibers. Her current research is focused on using the digital volume correlation method to characterize the optic nerve head biomechanics from optical coherence tomography.


    bingrui@ocularbiomechanics.com

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  • Dr. Lu

    Yuankai Lu, PhD - Post-doctoral fellow

    Dr. Yuankai received a B.Sc. in Physics from Shanghai Jiao Tong University, China (2015), a Ph.D. in applied mathematics also from Shanghai Jiao Tong University, China (2021). Dr. Lu’s research background is mainly in computational biology and applied mathematics, including tissue oxygenation simulation, hemodynamics, angiogenesis and vessel adaptation modelling, etc. Currently, his research focuses on the hemodynamic and tissue oxygenation simulation in lamina, and related physiological and pathological issues.


    yuankai@ocularbiomechanics.com

    Google Scholar


  • Dr. Bohlmann Kunz

    Miriam Bohlmann Kunz, PhD - Post-doctoral fellow

    Dr. Bohlmann Kunz received her B.A. in Chemistry from Northwestern University (2016), and her Ph.D. in Chemistry from the University of Wisconsin-Madison (2022). Her research background is in ultrafast multidimensional spectroscopies and incorporating these methods with optical and atomic force microscopy (AFM). Dr. Bohlmann Kunz developed a method to measure linear absorption spectra via an AFM that was able to measure differences in absorption with nanoscale resolution. Her current research interests are in various polarized light and nonlinear microscopy methods.


    miriam@ocularbiomechanics.com

    Google Scholar


  • Ms. He

    Xuehuan (Hellen) He, PhD – Post-doctoral fellow

    Dr. He earned her B.Sc. in Mechanical Engineering from Chang'an University in 2015, an M.Sc. in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Minnesota Duluth in 2018, and a Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Iowa in 2022. Her research interests center on biomechanics and diseases of fibrous soft tissue. She has utilized microstructurally-motivated constitutive models, computational modeling, and machine learning techniques for assessing the abnormalities of the human thoracic aorta and the rupture risk of aneurysms. Currently, her research focuses on investigating the role of collagen fiber structure on optic nerve head biomechanics and glaucoma.


    xuehuan@ocularbiomechanics.com

    Personal Webpage
    Google Scholar



  • Ms. Waxman

    Susannah Waxman, PhD - Post-doctoral fellow

    Dr. Waxman received her Bachelor's degree in Botany (2016) from Ohio Wesleyan University. She was a research assistant at Ohio Wesleyan (2014-2016) and a laboratory technician and manager at the University of Pittsburgh (2016-2018). She received her PhD in Interdisciplinary Biomedical Sciences from the University of Pittsburgh (2024). She has worked on characterizing the physiology and pathophysiology of the eye's conventional outflow tract. Her current research focuses on elucidating the role of perivascular cells in the optic nerve head.


    susannah@ocularbiomechanics.com

    Google Scholar


  • Dr. Galloy

    Adam Galloy, PhD - Post-doctoral fellow

    Dr. Adam Galloy earned his B.Sc. in engineering at Dordt University (2019), and his Ph.D. in biomedical engineering at the University of Iowa (2024). His research aims to combine techniques from computational mechanics, imaging, and geometry to develop novel insights into human (patho)physiology. His previous research used soft tissue finite element models and analysis techniques from differential geometry to study sliding motion between lobes of the lungs and its impact on respiratory health. He is currently interested in using computational models and image analysis methods to understand how fiber architecture influences eye function.


    adam@ocularbiomechanics.com

    Google Scholar


 

Graduate students

  • Mr. Tian

    Qi Tian - PhD in Bioengineering

    Mr. Tian received his Bachelor's degree in Electrical Engineering and Automation (2021) from Huazhong University of Science and Technology, China. His current research focuses on microstructure and mechanics of the sclera.



    qi@ocularbiomechanics.com


  • Ms. Han

    Yingzhe Han - PhD in Bioengineering

    Ms. Han received her Bachelor's degree in Engineering Mechanics (2021) from Xi'an Jiaotong University, China. She was a visiting student at the University of Pittsburgh (2023-2024). She has experience working on simulations of coronary intervention with varying plaque compositions and classical plate theory. Her current research focuses on fiber modeling through string art methods.

    yingzhe@ocularbiomechanics.com



  • Ms. Oberdorfer

    Annika Oberdorfer - PhD in Bioengineering

    Ms. Oberdorfer received her Bachelor’s degree in Biomedical Engineering (2023) from the University of Florida. Her research background is in gait biomechanics related to osteoarthritis. Her research will focus on astrocyte mechanics related to glaucoma.

    annika@ocularbiomechanics.com




 

Staff

  • Ms. Linton

    Ashley Linton – Research Assistant

    Ms. Linton received her Bachelor’s degree in neuroscience (2022) from Allegheny College. Her work includes sample preparation, histology processing, and acquiring and analyzing images.


    ashley@ocularbiomechanics.com







 

Undergraduate students

  • Ms. Gill

    Ruhani Gill

    Ms. Gill is a senior bioengineering student on the biomechanics track at the University of Pittsburgh.


    RKG27@pitt.edu





  • Ms. Yang

    Juana Yang

    Ms. Yang is a senior computational biology student at the University of Pittsburgh.


    JUY40@pitt.edu




  • Mr. Kodavali

    Harish Kodavali

    Mr. Kodavali is a senior computational biology student at the University of Pittsburgh.


    HAK139S@pitt.edu


 

Current Internal Collaborators

  • Kira L. Lathrop, MAMS, PhD

    • The University of Pittsburgh Department of Ophthalmology [Webpage Here]

  • Katherine Davoli

    • The University of Pittsburgh Department of Ophthalmology [Webpage Here]

  • Or Shemesh, PhD

    • The University of Pittsburgh Department of Ophthalmology [Webpage Here]

  • Simon Watkins, PhD

    • The University of Pittsburgh Center for Biologic Imaging [Webpage Here]

Current External Collaborators

  • Dr Brian Vohnsen

    • Advanced Optical Imaging Group at University College Dublin [Webpage Here]

  • Rouzbeh Amini

  • Grytz, Rafael, PhD

Former Collaborators

  • Kevin Chuen Wing C. Chan, PhD

  • Piervincenzo Rizzo, PhD

    • University of Pittsburgh Swanson School of Engineering [Webpage Here]

Former staff and students

    Visiting Scholars

  • Mingna Liu, MD (2023-24) - Last known as Chief physician at the Eye Hospital of Shandong First Medical University.


    • Post-doctoral Fellows

  • Po-Yi Lee, PhD (2023) - Last known as a Post-doc at Harvard Medical School.

  • Mohammad Refatul Islam, PhD (2021-2023) - Last known as Assistant Professor at The University of Texas.

  • Yi (Jason) Hua, PhD (2016-2022) - Last known as Assistant Professor at The University of Mississippi.

  • Manik Bansal, PhD (2020-2022) - Last known as Postdoctoral scholar at Robert Morris University

  • Fuqiang Zhong, PhD (2020-2021) - Last known as Research engineer at Huawei

  • Bryn Brazile, PhD (2016-2019) - Last known Senior engineer at Baxter.

  • Bin Yang, PhD (2016-2019) - Last known Assistant professor at Duquesne University.

  • Junchao Wei, PhD (2017-2018) - Last known at Konika-Minolta.

  • Andrew Voorhees, PhD (2015-2018) - Last known at Johnson & Johnson Ophthalmic Research.


    • Graduate students

  • Radhika Pande, MS (Graduate Student 2022-2024)

  • Susannah Waxman, PhD (Graduate Student, 2019 - 2024)

  • Bangquan Liao, MS (Graduate Student 2022-2024)

  • Fengting Ji, PhD (Graduate Student, 2018 - 2023)

  • Grace Tavitas, MS (Graduate Student 2022-2023)

  • Po-Yi Lee, PhD (Graduate Student 2019-2023)

  • Ziyi Zhu, MS (Graduate Student 2018-2020)

  • Tian Yong Foong, MS (Graduate Student 2017-2019)

  • Bingrui Wang (Research Visiting PhD Student 2017-2019)

  • Ning-Jiun Jan, PhD (Graduate Student 2011-2018)

  • Huong Tran, MS (Graduate Student and Research Assistant 2013-2018)


    • Staff

  • Jarin Dengler (Research Assistant 2024)

  • Hannah Schilpp (Research Assistant 2022-2024)

  • Julianna Werner (Research Assistant 2023-2024)

  • Nathan Naylor (Mechanical Research Engineer 2022-2024)

  • Marissa Quinn (Research Assistant 2021-2022)

  • John Gnalian (Research Assistant 2020-2021)

  • Po Lam (Research Assistant 2016-2019)

  • Alexandra (Judisch) Gogola, MS (Systems Analyst 2015-2019)

  • Jake Wallace (Research Assistant 2016-2017)

  • Rafique Khan (Research Assistant 2016)

  • Danielle Hu (Research Assistant 2015-2016)

  • Jonathan L. Grimm (Senior Analyst 2010-2015)


    • Undergraduate students

  • Kyra Roseman (Summer 2024)

  • Andrew Theophanous (Summer 2022 - Spring 2024)

  • Sofia Lusvardi (Summer 2023 - Spring 2024)

  • Yiding Li (Spring 2024, MEMS 1043 Senior Design)

  • Lucas Zwastetzky (Spring 2024, MEMS 1043 Senior Design)

  • Hannah E O’Connell (Spring 2024, MEMS 1043 Senior Design)

  • Wei Zheng (Spring 2024, MEMS 1043 Senior Design)

  • Ann Marie M Howald (Spring 2024, MEMS 1043 Senior Design)

  • Evan M Garbaccio (Spring 2024, MEMS 1043 Senior Design)

  • Addison Teresa Mueller (Spring 2024, MEMS 1043 Senior Design)

  • Christopher John Beatty (Spring 2024, MEMS 1043 Senior Design)

  • Akshay Balaji (Summer 2023)

  • Shaharoz Tahir (Summer 2022 - Spring 2023)

  • Venkat Daita (Summer 2022)

  • Isabella Mailer (Spring 2022, MEMS 1043 Senior Design, Summer 2022)

  • Grace O'Malley (Spring 2022, MEMS 1043 Senior Design, Summer 2022)

  • Frieda Jones (Spring 2022, MEMS 1043 Senior Design)

  • Emma Skub (Spring 2022, MEMS 1043 Senior Design)

  • Urjeet Deshmukh (Spring 2021-Summer 2021)

  • Jason Walker (Summer 2019-Spring 2021)

  • Gosia Fryc (Spring 2019-Spring 2021)

  • Benjamin DiCenzo (Spring 2020-Spring 2021)

  • Sinead Healy (Fall 2020-Spring 2021)

  • Pi’ilani Noguchi (Summer 2020, TecBio program)

  • Pedro Pallares (Summer 2019-Spring 2020)

  • Anish Puligilla (Fall 2018-Spring 2020)

  • Haiden McDonald (Summer 2019 + Spring 2020)

  • Michael Kinney (Spring 2020, MEMS 1043 Senior Design)

  • Ryan Ronczka (Spring 2020, MEMS 1043 Senior Design)

  • Liqi Chen (Spring 2020, MEMS 1043 Senior Design)

  • Jiachen Wang (Spring 2020, MEMS 1043 Senior Design)

  • Yangshan Deng (Spring 2020, MEMS 1043 Senior Design)

  • Jiaming Li (Spring 2020, MEMS 1043 Senior Design)

  • Naveensri Saravanan (Fall 2018-Fall 2019)

  • Michael Long (Fall 2019, MEMS 1043 Senior Design)

  • Jamie Barishman (Fall 2019, MEMS 1043 Senior Design)

  • Gregory Rice (Fall 2019, MEMS 1043 Senior Design)

  • Nicholas Cerilli (Fall 2019, MEMS 1043 Senior Design)

  • Annie Shi (Fall 2019, MEMS 1043 Senior Design)

  • John Levickas (FER, Spring 2019)

  • Lizhou He (Spring 2019, MEMS 1043 Senior Design)

  • Tommy Haedrich (Spring 2019, MEMS 1043 Senior Design)

  • William Boyer (Spring 2019, MEMS 1043 Senior Design)

  • Rahul Doraiswamy (Spring 2019, MEMS 1043 Senior Design)

  • Yuankang Wang (Spring 2019, MEMS 1043 Senior Design)

  • Taylor Lynn Frank (Spring 2018 - Fall 2018)

  • Edward Rusnica (Fall 2018, MEMS 1043 Senior Design)

  • Aaron Acierno (Fall 2018, MEMS 1043 Senior Design)

  • Allen Xinwei Wang (Fall 2018, MEMS 1043 Senior Design)

  • Andrew Moore (Summer-Fall 2016 + Fall 2017-Summer 2018)

  • Zihao Huang (Summer 2018, MEMS 1043 Senior Design)

  • Yuhao Lian (Summer 2018, MEMS 1043 Senior Design)

  • Kaichen Sun (Summer 2018, MEMS 1043 Senior Design)

  • Benjamin P Ferrara (Summer 2018, MEMS 1043 Senior Design)

  • Erich Heinzel (Fall 2017-Spring 2018)

  • Tyler Martin (Summer 2017-Spring 2018)

  • Taylor Frank (Fall 2017-Spring 2018)

  • Matthew G Truncale (Spring 2018, MEMS 1043 Senior Design)

  • Bryan E Konieczka (Spring 2018, MEMS 1043 Senior Design)

  • Ryan C Skorski (Spring 2018, MEMS 1043 Senior Design)

  • Benjamin D Pollock (Spring 2018, MEMS 1043 Senior Design)

  • Christopher S. Spicer (Fall 2017, MEMS 1043 Senior Design)

  • Emily B. Irwin (Fall 2017, MEMS 1043 Senior Design)

  • Fall (Summer 2017, MEMS 1043 Senior Design)

  • Eric Zhang (Summer 2017)* Co-supported by the Swanson School of Engineering

  • Rachel Dunn (Summer 2017, MEMS 1043 Senior Design)

  • Roman Nilov (Summer 2017, MEMS 1043 Senior Design)

  • Noah Perryman (Summer 2017, MEMS 1043 Senior Design)

  • Ce (Ted) Zhang (Summer 2017, MEMS 1043 Senior Design)

  • Christopher Torgalski (Fall 2016 + Spring 2017)

  • Cindy Jiao (Fall 2015 - Spring 2017) * Brackenridge Fellowship by the University of Pittsburgh Honors College

  • Felipe Suntaxi (Summer+Fall 2016) * Co-supported by the Department of Bioengineering

  • Ziyi Zhu (Summer+Fall2016) * Co-supported by the Swanson School of Engineering

  • Mathew Russell (Summer 2016 - Spring 2017)

  • Morgan Austin (Summer - Spring 2017)

  • Shweta Ravichandar (Spring 2017, MEMS 1043 Senior Design)

  • Katriona Blezy (Spring 2017, MEMS 1043 Senior Design)

  • Kelly Appleton (Spring 2017, MEMS 1043 Senior Design)

  • Roy Tan Park Sung (Spring 2017, MEMS 1043 Senior Design)

  • David Bevins (Spring 2017, MEMS 1043 Senior Design)

  • Sean Boyles (Spring 2017, MEMS 1043 Senior Design)

  • Arielle Iacocca (Spring 2017, MEMS 1043 Senior Design)

  • Bryce Bowman (Spring 2017, MEMS 1043 Senior Design)

  • Ryan Oakley (Fall 2016, MEMS 1043 Senior Design)

  • Sarker Tanmoy (Fall 2016, MEMS 1043 Senior Design)

  • Lincoln Walton (Fall 2016, MEMS 1043 Senior Design)

  • Forme Balebako (Summer 2016, MEMS 1043 Senior Design)

  • Loryn Bertoti (Summer 2016, MEMS 1043 Senior Design)

  • Nicholas Neugebauer (Summer 2016, MEMS 1043 Senior Design)

  • Emma Hundertmark (Summer+Fall 2016)

  • Nicholas Krall (Summer+Fall 2016)

  • Oliver Snyder (Summer 2016)

  • John Marshall (Summer 2016)

  • Karlie Brasch (Spring 2016, FER)

  • Jennifer Panza (Spring 2016, FER)

  • Emma Chen (Spring 2016, FER)

  • Brienna Roys (Spring 2016, FER)

  • Jin Yu Li (Spring 2016, FER)

  • Shumeng Yang (Spring 2016, FER)

  • Eric Sou Ying Dong (Spring 2016, FER)

  • Alexander Mace (Spring 2016, MEMS 1043 Senior Design)

  • Zeyu Tong (Spring 2016, Senior Design)

  • Jingxian Zhao (Spring 2016, Senior Design)

  • Joshua Selling (Fall 2015, MEMS 1043 Senior Design)

  • Morgan Skapik (Fall 2015, MEMS 1043 Senior Design)

  • Nicholas Cox (Fall 2015, MEMS 1043 Senior Design)

  • Rachel Rohr (Fall 2015, MEMS 1043 Senior Design)

  • Mikayla Ferchaw (fall 2015)

  • Michael Iasella (summer 2014, summer-fall 2015)

  • Jacob Wallace (summer 2015-spring 2016) * Brackenridge Fellowship by the University of Pittsburgh Honors College

  • Mason Lester (summer-fall 2015)

  • Andrew Levandoski (summer-fall 2015)

  • Ryan O'Malley (summer 2014-fall 2015)

  • Saundria Moed (summer 2014-spring 2015, fall 2015)* Co-supported by the Swanson School of Engineering

  • Jeremy Teichmann (summer 2015, co-mentored by Gadi Wollstein)* Co-supported by the Swanson School of Engineering

  • Yiyao Shi (summer 2015)

  • David Tsui (summer 2015)

  • Jon R. Drobitch (summer 2015)

  • Yujie Mu (summer 2015)

  • Garrett Grube (summer 2015)* Co-supported by the Department of Bioengineering

  • Zach Adgate (summer-fall 2015)

  • Jennifer Ten Eyck (summer 2015)

  • William Walters (summer 2015)

  • Sarah Smelko (summer 2014-spring 2015)

  • Natalie Rutkowski (summer 2014-spring 2015)

  • Michael Linehan (summer 2014-spring 2015)

  • Celeste Gomez (2012-2014) * Awarded a Fight for Sight summer student fellowship

  • James Constantin (summer 2014-spring 2015)* Co-supported by the Department of Bioengineering

  • Yuqi Wang (summer 2014) * Co-supported by the Department of Bioengineering

  • Aaron Dees (summer 2014)

  • Tyler Martin (summer 2014)

  • Michael Ulrich (summer 2014)

  • Yoonsoo Kim (2013-2014)

  • Sarah Shaykevich (2013-2014)