Joel M Miller, PhD
Principal Investigator & Senior Scientist

Lab Direction & Mangement

Kevin R Shieh, BS
Research assistant

Pretty Much Anything That Needs Doing

Vanitha Sankaranarayanan, MS
Software Engineer

Realtime Programming

Andrew H Clarke, PhD
Prof & Head of the Vestibular Research Lab at Charit Universittsmedizin in Berlin, and Technical Director at Chronos Vision GmbH

Ryan Davison, PhD
Vision Science Research Center of the Univ Alabama, Birmingham.

Joseph L Demer, MD, PhD
Leonard Apt Prof Ophthalmology, Chief Comprehensive Ophthalmology & Director Ocular Motility Lab at Jules Stein Eye Inst, UCLA

Paul DR Gamlin, PhD
Prof & Chair of Vision Sciences, and Senior Scientist at the Vision Science Research Center of the Univ Alabama, Birmingham

Angel M Pastor, PhD
Dept Fisiologia y Zoologia, Facultad de Biologa, Sevilla, Spain

Dinesh K Pai, PhD
Prof Computer Science at the Univ of British Columbia, Vancouver

Alan B Scott, MD
Senior Scientist at the Smith-Kettlewell Eye Research Institute

Christine Wildsoet, OD, PhD
Prof of Vision Science & Optometry at the University of California, Berkeley

Martin Wiesmair, DI(FH)
Kirchdorf, Austria

Wu Zhou, PhD
Asst Prof & Director of the Vestibular Research Lab at the Univ of Mississippi Medical Center

Miller JM (2008). EOM Force Paradoxes – Invited talk at the annual conference Recherche en Oculomotricit, Nantes, France 26-27 Sept (Presentation PDF, Presentation dans le francais PDF, 19MB).

As evidence has mounted for the critical role of extraocular muscle (EOM) pulleys in normal ocular motility and disease, opposition to the notion has grown more strident. We review the stages through which pulley theory has developed, distinguishing passive, coordinated, weak differential, and strong differential pulley theories and focusing on points of controversy. There is overwhelming evidence that much of the eye's kinematics, once thought to require brainstem coordination of EOM innervations, is determined by orbital biomechanics. The main criticisms of pulley theory only apply to the strong differential theory, abandoned in 2002. Critiques of the notion of dual EOM insertions are shown to be mistaken. The role of smooth muscle and the issue of rotational noncommutativity are clarified. We discuss how pulley sleeves can be stabilized as required by the theory, noting that more work needs to be done in specifying the tissues involved.

Miller JM, Rossi EA, Wiesmair M, Alexander DE & Gallo O (2006). Stability of gold bead tissue markers. Journal of Vision, vol 6, num 5, art 6, pgs 616-624, http://journalofvision.org/6/5/6/, doi:10.1167/6.5.6.

A new soft tissue imaging method that uses tiny (~0.1 mm dia) gold beads as markers to visualize tissue movements with high spatial (~100 m) and moderate temporal (~100 ms) resolution.

Neural Control of a Complex Oculomotor Plant – Invited Lecture by JM Miller at the Vision Sciences Research Center at the Univ of Alabama at Birmingham, 10 Sep 2004 (Presentation PDF, 2.7MB).

EOM Co-Contraction: Theories & Data - Journal Club at S-K 13 Jul 2004 & Talk at UAB Vision Science Research Center 10 Sep 2004 by JM Miller (Presentation PDF, 1.5MB). InfoIcon illustrates dubious claim of horizontal rectus co-contraction in convergence.

Bupivacaine Injection Treatment of Strabismus (PI: Alan B Scott)

Existing treatments for strabismus rely on compensatory impairment of EOMs; we are harnessing the hypertrophic consequences of bupivacaine myotoxicity to directly strengthen them. Development of bupivacaine for controlled muscle strengthening would provide a unique and powerful tool for strabismus management, and would likely have value for treatment of muscle disorders beyond ophthalmology (Paper PDF, 0.3MB).

EOM Forces & Neural Control of a Complex Oculomotor Plant

Motor control issues raised by conflicts between classical motoneuron studies and physiologic EOM force measurements • Forces in convergence (Paper • Sample Data)

Extraocular Biomechanics

Biomechanics of the eye, surrounding tissues and innervations • Computer model for researchers and clinicians

Extraocular Tissue Architecture

3-D architecture of the extraocular space, distinguishing striated muscle, smooth muscle, collagen, elastin, and other tissues. Techniques include MRI, histochemistry and 3D reconstruction from distorted slices using hierarchical warping and intrinsic fiducials