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Downs lab publishes new method
The Downs lab recently published an article describing a new method for representing the directional tissue stiffness imparted by aligned collagen fibrils in computational models of optic nerve head biomechanics. This is a challenging issue, especially in eye-specific models that the lab builds, because the collagen fiber orientation is both heterogeneous and depth-dependent through the thickness of the peripapillary sclera in each eye. -
Three UAB researchers aim to understand the mechanobiology of the optic nerve head in glaucoma through R01 grant
Three researchers from the University of Alabama at Birmingham are working to transform the treatment landscape for patients living with glaucoma. -
Downs co-edits first book written on ocular biomechanics
J. Crawford Downs, PhD, Professor at the University of Alabama at Birmingham Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences has co-edited the first book written about the growing field of ocular biomechanics. The 36-chapter book is co-edited by downs, Cynthia J. Roberts, PhD, and William J. Dupps, MD, PhD. -
Medical Innovations
Dr. Downs was featured in a UAB Podcast, Medical Innovations. Details about advances in robotics and other technologies, the latest clinical trials and research studies, and the development of innovative new procedures and treatment approaches. This series showcases UAB faculty-led, patient-centric, medical technology breakthroughs in numerous specialties through specific cases, real-world applications, and patient stories, emphasizing the potential impact of these new technologies on patient outcomes. -
Downs receives BrightFocus Foundation glaucoma research grant
The BrightFocus Foundation has awarded a glaucoma research grant of more than $149,000 to J. Crawford Downs, Ph.D., of the University of Alabama at Birmingham, for his work on a new wireless system to measure and control fluid pressure around the optic nerve. -
Downs receives a second R01 grant to study glaucoma
J. Crawford Downs, Ph.D., has received a four-year, $1.88 million grant from the National Eye Institute to further explore the underlying mechanisms of glaucoma and bring the relationship between age, intraocular pressure and glaucoma development into focus. -
UAB researcher awarded $1.23 million grant for glaucoma research
J. Crawford Downs, Ph.D., vice chair of Research in the University of Alabama at Birmingham Department of Ophthalmology, was awarded a three-year, $1.23 million grant from the National Eye Institute to explore intraocular pressure fluctuation as it relates to the development and progression of glaucoma, a potentially blinding disease that affects more than 2.2 million Americans. -
Under Pressure
Ernest Murry saw glaucoma steal his mother’s vision, just as it had robbed sight from many other family members. There was a time when it seemed the same might happen to him. “When I went outside to walk, I would have to pat in front of me to keep from falling,” he says. -
Growth of Ocular Biomechanics evident at 2014 World Congress of Biomechanics
The growth of the field of ocular biomechanics was on display at the 7th World Congress of Biomechanics July 6 to July 11, 2014, and the UAB Department of Ophthalmology Program of Ocular Biomechanics and Biotransport was at the forefront of this exciting meeting. -
Cable guys: Inside UAB's high-tech, custom-built approach to eye science
The miracle of sight relies on a masterpiece of wiring. More than a million individual nerve cells scattered around the eye convert visual information into electricity. Then these individual cells are bundled together at the back of the eye into the optic nerve, which carries the signal to the brain. -
How a plastic eye helps fight glaucoma, raises funds
Crawford Downs, Ph.D., has spent his entire career studying the optic nerve head, but he never really saw it until a few months ago. Using an ingenious system of his own design, Downs had created the first high-resolution computer model of the lamina cribrosa, a mesh-like structure at the back of the eye that allows the optic nerve axons to exit while preserving intraocular pressure.