Eye

Lizzie Rocks UROP Symposium

Congratulations to Elizabeth (Lizzie) Su for a successful UROP research experience and presentation!  Lizzie used convolutional neural networks to predict injury prior to standard methods of detection.  Results found that injury could be detected earlier than standard optical coherence tomography imaging.  She is currently working on a variety of parameters to improve predictions with the CNN and the incorporation of transfer learning to manage small image datasets. She will continue the work and submit a publication this summer. Congratulations Lizzie!!  You did an excellent job! Her poster can be viewed here.      

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Congratulations Kiffer Creveling!

Kiffer Creveling successfully defended his Ph.D. dissertation in Mechanical Engineering in front of his graduate committee as well as family and friends on zoom.  His dissertation, Characterization and Modeling of Vitreoretinal Adhesion in the Eye, takes the first step in identifying human morphological and mechanical differences in age- and region-related vitreoretinal adhesion, understanding the microstructure, and modeling of the vitreoretinal interface.  Congratulations on all your hard work!  Best of luck Kiffer!      

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ARVO 2018 Honolulu, HI

Christopher Creveling and Dr. Brittany Coats attended the 2018 ARVO conference in Honolulu, Hawaii to present research from our lab to other ophthalmologists around the world.  Christopher’s gave a podium presentation (only offered to ~11% of abstract submissions!) on his work measuring the strength of adhesion between the vitreous and retina in different ages and in different regions of the eye.  Dr. Brittany Coats gave a talk on animal models for pediatric ocular trauma. She also presented Matt Byrne’s work on retinal vascular morphology, and how it changes with age, region, and depth within the retina.

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Coats to Present at Military Vision Symposium

Join us at the 6th annual Military Vision Symposium on Ocular and Vision Injury hosted by Harvard Medical Center. Dr. Coats will be presenting an overview of the temporal progression of eye injury following blast exposure. Full itinerary for the symposium can be found here.

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Presentation Selected for Podium at ARVO 2017

Jourdan Colter’s abstract titled, Coefficient of friction between carboxymethylated hyaluronic acid (CMHA-S) films and the ocular surface, was selected for a podium presentation at the ARVO national meeting to be held in Baltimore Maryland May 7-11. The Annual Meeting of the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology (ARVO) is the largest gathering of eye and vision researchers in the world, attracting over 11,000 attendees from more than 75 countries. The project is in collaboration with Jade Therapeutics (a wholly-owned subsidiary of EyeGate Pharma). Excellent job Jourdan!

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ARVO 2016 Seattle, WA

Jourdan Colter and Dr. Brittany Coats attended the 2016 ARVO conference to present research from our lab to other ophthalmologists around the world.  Jourdan’s work is currently optimizing a drug delivery system to patients through the use of hydrogels on the surface of eyes.  She has been using computer models to figure out which is the best design to deliver the drug to patients.

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NIH Grant Awarded to Investigate Vitreoretinal Adhesion Changes with Age

The National Eye Institute at NIH recently awarded our group a two-year R21  grant titled Quantitative Regional Analysis of Vitreoretinal Adhesion with Age. The grant began March 1, 2016 and will be focused on elucidating mechanisms of adhesion at the vitreoretinal interface, and quantifying how those mechanisms change with age. The data will be extremely informative for understanding and developing treatments for posterior vitreous detachment, as well as developing mechanically accurate computational models of the human eye. We look forward to beginning this project and disseminating results to the vision research community.

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ARVO Conference

Dr. Coats and Dan Shedd attended the 2015 Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology (ARVO) Annual Conference, which was held May 3rd– 7th in Denver. This conference attracts researchers and clinicians in ophthalmology from across the country and the globe.  Dan presented his research in a podium presentation titled “Visual Dysfunction following Low Level Blast Exposure in Rats.” Dr. Coats moderated the Trauma poster session and presented a poster in collaboration with Jade Therapeutics, Inc. titled “A Novel Carboxymethylated Hyaluronic Acid Polymer for Sustained Drug Delivery to the Ocular Surface.” This conference was a great opportunity to network with […]

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New publication in Journal of Mechanical Behavior and Biomedical Materials

Congratulations to Jourdan Colter, Jami Saffioti, Alex Williams, and Patrick Moran for publishing their collaborative effort titled, “Age-related changes in dynamic moduli of ovine vitreous.” The rapid degradation and low mechanical stiffness of vitreous makes it challenging to capture high rate properties quickly without interference from inertial and time-related artifacts. Our recent publication describes and validates an advanced rheometry technique that converts the immediate response of time-dependent data into high rate frequency-dependent data. The citation and approved copy of our manuscript can be found here.

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Knights Templar Check Presentation

KTEF Coin

Following a seminar titled Pediatric Ocular Mechanics: The Elephant in the Room, the Utah Commandery of Knights Templar presented a check to the Pediatric Injury Biomechanics Lab on behalf of the Knights Templar Eye Foundation.  The check will support research characterizing the material properties of pediatric ocular tissues.  It’s our hope that these data will start the foundations for pediatrics ocular biomechanics and accelerate research for pediatric ocular disorders and injury. For additional information regarding the project, the award, or the Knights Templar Eye Foundation, Inc., please see the official Mechanical Engineering department press release and the KTEF website.  

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