Myopia prevalence has increased dramatically in the last few decades. It has reached 30% among young population in Europe and U.S.A. and over 80% in Asia. However, refractive correction remains the only option for treatment. Myopia has been linked to the shifting balance between far- and near-vision activities and the resulting abnormal axial growth of the eye, but many key questions remain unanswered, which are critical for exploring new treatments. The eye grows in a coordinated manner during normal development so that the ocular optics projects focused images on the retinal plane. However, in myopic eyes, it is commonly found that the eye grows excessively in the axial direction, causing images to be focused in front of the retina. This results in blurred images on the retina and poor vision. Studies have suggested that severe, also called pathologic, Myopia, with a refractive error of -6 D or more, may negatively affect the individual’s social, educational, and athletic development. People with less severe Myopia are currently managed by concave-lens eye glasses or surgical refractive corrections (i.e. LASIK). While these methods can improve vision, the more profound problem of Myopia is that it is linked to other eye diseases. Patients with high Myopia have an increased risk for glaucoma and retinal detachment. However, we do not know what causes the increasing risk, and furthermore even the underlying structural and physiological mechanisms of Myopia are not fully understood. This lack of understanding is frustrating the efforts of developing treatments of Myopia and lowering the Myopia-induced risks in potentially sight-threatening eye diseases.
Although some genetic associations and environmental factors for Myopia have been identified, debates are ongoing as to whether and how much these factors intervene. On the other hand, strong phenomenological correlations have been found between Myopia and the morphology and tissue-structure of the eye. A stablished fact is that during ocular growth, scleral development critically determine eye size and thus the refractive status of the eye. This project has been designed to better understand the collagen structures and biomechanical properties of the sclera in both normal and myopic eyes and to devise novel therapies aiming at promoting natural collagen-matrix deposition and/or improving scleral strength to resist abnormal ocular elongation. Analysis of the myopic eye morphology, will shed light into the structural changes occurring in Myopia progression, and clarify the role of scleral events in its development.
MYOMICRO is as a collaborative project, lead by Dr. María Vinas-Pena, between two host institutions (HIs) the EU beneficiary (VioBio Lab, CSIC, Spain), and the partner organization (Wellman Center for Photomedicine, Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, USA), with a short research stay at the Center for Visual Sciences, University of Rochester, USA). The goal of my research is to advance our understanding of Myopia and help to develop new treatments. As an important step, I propose to develop new innovative optical instruments to characterize myopic eyes in unprecedented details to gain novel insights, and to assess treatment effects objectively and comprehensively beyond conventional vision tests. Specifically, I aim to accomplish the following: (a) substantial advances in the understanding of physical changes underlying Myopia, (b) quantitative assessment of optical, structural, and mechanical properties of the eye during Myopia development, and (c) anatomical- & structural-level assessment of novel interventions to stop Myopia progression.
