Laboratory of
Ocular Biomechanics
University of Pittsburgh
Latest News
PhD Position Available
We are seeking a PhD student to develop a new class of bio-inspired materials. This is a hands-on project suiting someone in engineering interested in the interface between mechanics, materials and robotics.
Do you enjoy making things through 3D printing, CNC, and robotics, including programming, electronics, and control?
Applicants should email ian@OcularBiomechanics.com, explaining why they fit the project and detailing relevant experience. If you have completed projects making objects or devices that involved learning and pushing 3D printing, please share details.
January/2025: New grant awarded!
We are part of a team of over 40 scientists (15+ at Pittsburgh) awarded support by ARPA-H to work on whole eye transplantation. Our lab is working on ways to improve the biomechanical integration of the transplant and host. [Read More]
January/2025: Welcome Xinyue!
Xinyue Wang joins our lab as a Research Fellow.
January/2025: Welcome Spring 2025 Senior Design Team
Juliette Davoine, Isabelle McGowan, Jose Morales, Meilin Gao and Carina Elizabeth Rose will work on "Experimental testing of the role of fiber architecture on an optic nerve protective sheath".
January/2025: New paper accepted!
"Impact of elevated IOP on lamina cribrosa oxygenation; A combined experimental-computational study on monkeys" by Ophthalmology Science. This work was led by Yuankai Lu. [Preprint (before revision edits) here. Final version soon]
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January/2025: New paper accepted!
"Morphological comparison of astrocytes in the lamina cribrosa and glial lamina" by IOVS. This work was led by Susannah Waxman. [Preprint (before revision edits) here. Final version soon]
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Examples of our work
Why biomechanics of the eye?
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In our daily lives we rarely think of the eye as a biomechanical structure. The eye, however, is a remarkably complex structure with biomechanics involved in many of its functions. For our eyes to be able to track moving objects, for example, requires a delicate balance of the forces exerted by several muscles. Forces are also responsible for deforming the lens and allow focusing. A slight imbalance between the forces and tissue properties may be enough to alter or even preclude vision. These effects may take place quickly or over long periods, even years. Understanding ocular biomechanics is therefore important for preventing and treating vision loss. |
Schematic cross-section through a human eye. Light enters the eye through the cornea, passes through the pupil, lens and vitreous humour and strikes the retina, where it is absorbed. Retinal nerve fibers transmit visual information to the brain. These fibers converge at the optic nerve head region, exit the eye through the scleral canal, and form the optic nerve. The lamina cribrosa is a porous structure spanning the scleral canal. The vitreous chamber is filled with the vitreous humor, which exerts a pressure, the intraocular pressure, on the surface of the retina. [Sigal et al. Biomech Model Mechanobiol, 8(2):85-98, Apr 2009] (adapted from an illustration from NIH) |
Goals
The objective of the Laboratory of Ocular Biomechanics is to study the eye as a biomechanical structure. More specifically our work is aimed at identifying the causes of glaucoma, with the ultimate intention of finding a way to prevent vision loss.