Laboratory of
Ocular Biomechanics
University of Pittsburgh. HG1
Latest News
Graduate student, undergraduate student and Research assistant positions available (Details)
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.
June/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.
May/2024: Welcome Kyra Roseman!
Joins our lab as a Summer Student Researcher.
May/2024: 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.
May/2024: Congratulations Po-Yi Lee!
Po-Yi Lee gave a podium presentation at the Imaging of the eye, ARVO Imaging, Seattle, WA.
May/2024: 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.
Examples of our workClick images for more info.
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.