Further information
Professor Ross Ethier
Professor Ross Ethier, Professor of Biomechanics and Head of the Department of Bioengineering, presents his inaugural lecture.
In the Chair: Professor Stephen Richardson, Principal of the Faculty of Engineering, Imperial College London.
Vote of Thanks: Professor Tim Pedley, G.I.Taylor Professor of Fluid Dynamics, University of Cambridge.
Attendance at this lecture is free with registration in advance. Please email events@imperial.ac.uk to register.
A pre lecture tea will take place from 16.45 in the Senior Common Room , Level 2, Sherfield Building.
Abstract: Glaucoma is an ocular disease which is the second most common cause of blindness. It represents a conundrum for engineers: empirically, we know that biomechanics plays an important (perhaps pivotal) role in the disease, yet we do not understand the specific link between mechanics and pathology. In this lecture I will briefly review the pathophysiology of this disease, and then describe how we have tried to unravel its biomechanics. This has led to interesting problems in fluid and solid mechanics (which are all very well for an engineer), but also to problems in medical imaging, neurophysiology and cell biology (where perhaps more circumspect engineers might fear to tread). Luckily, I have benefitted from interdisciplinary interactions with colleagues across these fields. I will describe how mechanical forces likely regulate homeostatic pressure control in the eye; how finite element modelling of whole globe and optic nerve head biomechanics has revealed a previously unknown role for the sclera in glaucoma; and how this may help us identify novel risk factors for development of glaucoma.
Biography: Professor C Ross Ethier PhD FASME FARVO FAIMBE received a B.Sc. (Eng.) in Mathematics & Engineering from Queen’s University, Kingston, Canada in 1980, a M.Math degree at the University of Waterloo in 1982, and S.M. and Ph.D. degrees at M.I.T. in 1983 and 1986. His first academic appointment was in Mechanical Engineering at the University of Toronto in 1986. From 1 August 2007 he has been Professor of Biomechanics and Head of the Department of Bioengineering, Imperial College London. He was an NSERC Steacie Fellow in 1997-99, a von Humboldt Fellow at the University of Erlangen-Nuremburg in 1999/2000 and a Tier I Canada Research Chair in Computational Technology (2001-2007). He is a fellow of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers; the American Institute for Biological and Medical Engineering; the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology; and the International Federation of Biomedical Engineering. He serves on the editorial board of three journals, on the World Council of Biomechanics and on Scientific Review Committee of the American Health Assistance Foundation.
Professor Ethier’s field is biomechanics, with specific interests in the pathogenesis of glaucoma, atherogenesis and the mechanobiology of connective tissue diseases. He now leads a Wellcome Trust/EPSRC-funded centre at Imperial on Medical Engineering Solutions in the Treatment of Osteoarthritis.