Joel M Miller, PhD
Principal Investigator & Senior Scientist

Lab Direction & Management

Kenneth K Danh, BS
Research Assistant

Lab Factotum

Vanitha Sankaranarayanan, MS
Software Engineer

Realtime Programming

Dirk Strasser, MS
Research Fellow

Data Compiler

Mona Sane, DNB, MRCOphth
Postdoctoral Research Fellow

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

Orbit 1.8™ on Intel®

Run Orbit 1.8 under OSX 10.5 Leopard® and OSX 10.6 Snow Leopard® on your Intel Mac!

The Orbit 1.8 Gaze Mechanics Simulation remains the most powerful, reliable, and informative simulation of ocular static mechanics and strabismus. When OSX was introduced in 2001, Orbit 1.8, being a MacOS 68K application, ran only in "Classic" emulation mode. Unfortunately, with OSX 10.5 (Leopard), Classic disappeared. "Orbit 1.8 on Intel" (OOI) is a good solution to this problem.

Bupivacaine injection Treatment of Strabismus

Bupivacaine dissociates sarcomeres, allowing satellite cells to rebuild a muscle at reduced length if its antagonist is temporarily weakened with a small dose of Botox. Seven comitant strabismus cases averaged 20 pd correction.

Scott AB, Miller JM, Shieh BS (2009). Treating strabismus by injecting the agonist muscle with bupivacaine and the antagonist with botulinum toxin. Trans Am Ophthalmol Soc, vol 107, pgs 104-111 (Paper PDF).

Understanding and Misunderstanding Extraocular Muscle Pulleys

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 and less coherent. 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 (2008). Understanding & Misunderstanding EOM Pulleys – Invited talk at the annual conference Recherche en Oculomotricit, Nantes, France 26-27 Sept (Presentation PDF, Presentation dans le francais PDF, 19MB).

Letters published in IOVS regarding "Kyoung-Min Lee, Annie P Lai, James Brodale & Arthur Jampolsky (2007). Sideslip of the Medial Rectus Muscle during Vertical Eye Rotation. IOVS, 48 (10), 4527-4533" (Introduction & links).

Miller JM (2007a). Understanding and Misunderstanding Extraocular Muscle Pulleys. Journal of Vision, vol 7, num 11, art 10, pgs 1-15, http://journalofvision.org/7/11/10, doi:10.1167/7.11.10.

EOM Force Coordination

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 at left illustrates dubious claim of horizontal rectus co-contraction in convergence.

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).

Bupivacaine injection Treatment of Strabismus (NIH/NEI CoPIs: Alan B Scott, Joel M Miller)

Existing strabismus treatments rely on compensatory impairment of EOMs. Bupivacaine is a selective myotoxin with effects similar to mechanical overloading: myofiber destruction followed by rapid regeneration. We intend to harness its potential to increase contractile & elastic muscle forces as unique treatments for strabismus and other muscle disorders.

Scott AB, Alexander DE, Miller JM (2007). Bupivacaine injection of eye muscles to treat strabismus. Br J Ophthalmol, vol 91, isu 2, pgs 146-148 (Paper PDF).

Scott AB, Miller JM, Shieh BS (2009). Bupivacaine injection of the lateral rectus muscle to treat esotropia. Journal of AAPOS, vol 13, pgs 119-122 (Paper PDF).

Bupivacaine dissociates sarcomeres, allowing satellite cells to rebuild a muscle at reduced length if its antagonist is temporarily weakened with a small dose of Botox. Seven comitant strabismus cases averaged 20 pd correction.

Scott AB, Miller JM, Shieh BS (2009). Treating strabismus by injecting the agonist muscle with bupivacaine and the antagonist with botulinum toxin. Trans Am Ophthalmol Soc, vol 107, pgs 104-111 (Paper PDF).

Neural Control of a Complex Oculomotor Plant (NIH/NEI PI: Joel M Miller)

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