Jian Lin
University of Missouri-Columbia, MO·Biomedical Engineering
Glaucoma damages vision when pressure inside the eye, called intraocular pressure (IOP), stays too high. Surgeons often implant glaucoma drainage devices (GDDs), tubes that let fluid called aqueous humor drain out of the eye.
- Fields
Biomedical Engineering
Materials Science
Engineering
- Topics
glaucoma
intraocular pressure
aqueous humor outflow
- Grants
- 1 known grant, last ended Aug 2026
What they work on
- Design and synthesize a magnetic shape memory polymer composite of PGDA-PAA elastomer with NdFeB and Fe3O4 microparticles, and relate its microstructure to how it changes shape under magnetic fields.
- Build valves from this material inside silicone shunt tubes and test whether magnetic reshaping controls fluid flow, comparing lab measurements with computational fluid dynamics simulations.
- Evaluate the biocompatibility of the material and how well the adjustable glaucoma drainage device controls intraocular pressure, in ex vivo and in vivo studies.
More about the research
But these devices cannot be adjusted after surgery, and they have high failure and complication rates. This project proposes an adjustable glaucoma drainage device (AGDD) whose flow can be tuned without further surgery.
Why it matters
People with glaucoma who need drainage surgery often face device failure, complications and repeat operations. A drainage implant that can be adjusted without surgery after it is placed could let surgeons fine-tune eye pressure over time. This could reduce reoperations and help preserve vision for patients with this blinding disease.
Known grants
From NIH and NSF research grants. Labs often have other funding we can't see.
Closest labs
Ian Pitha
University of Utah, UT·Biomedical Engineering
Determine how glaucoma drainage implant composition, design and nanoscale surface architecture affect foreign-body and scarring (fibrotic) responses, using a versatile manufacturing platform that makes implants with varied materials and textures.
Gillian McLellan
University of Wisconsin-Madison, WI·Medicine & Clinical Research
Optimize delivery of a feline immunodeficiency virus (FIV)-based lentiviral vector to trabecular meshwork cells, the eye's fluid-drainage tissue, in cultured feline cells and glaucomatous cat eyes, selecting vector and dose for efficiency, tissue specificity and safety.
Suchismita Acharya
University of North Texas Health Science Center, TX·Pharmacology
Optimize the dose of SA-2 nanoparticles through toxicokinetic studies, which track drug levels and safety, and test how well they lower eye pressure in mice with Ad5.TGFβ2-induced ocular hypertension and in normal monkey eyes.
The school
University of Missouri-Columbia: 21 labs on PI Pages, $509M a year on research, 260 research doctorates a year.
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