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There is now a CONTENT FREEZE for Mercury while we switch to a new platform. It began on Friday, March 10 at 6pm and will end on Wednesday, March 15 at noon. No new content can be created during this time, but all material in the system as of the beginning of the freeze will be migrated to the new platform, including users and groups. Functionally the new site is identical to the old one. webteam@gatech.edu
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Advisor:
C. Ross Ethier, Ph.D. (BME/Georgia Institute of Technology)
Committee:
Andrés, J. García, Ph.D. (ME/Georgia Institute of Technology)
Robert E. Guldberg, Ph.D. (ME/Georgia Institute of Technology)
J. Brandon Dixon, Ph.D. (ME/Georgia Institute of Technology)
Ian A. Sigal, Ph.D. (Ophthalmology/University of Pittsburgh)
Finite Element Modeling of Rat Optic Nerve Head Biomechanics
Glaucoma is the second leading cause of blindness and is characterized by the loss of retinal ganglion cells (RGCs). Biomechanical insult, especially occurring in the optic nerve head (ONH), is thought to be a key driver leading to RGC death in glaucoma. However, the link between biomechanics and RGC death is not well understood. The rat has been widely used to study glaucoma, especially RGC pathophysiology. However, rat ONH biomechanics have not been characterized. We plan to characterize rat ONH biomechanics using finite element modeling. We hypothesize that regional patterns of stress and strain in the rat ONH will coincide with regional patterns of biological response seen in rat glaucoma studies conducted by collaborating labs.
