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Glaucoma is the leading cause of irreversible blindness in the world, with approximately 75 million patients suffering from the disease. We know that elevated intraocular pressure (IOP) is a key risk factor for the disease, and that sustained lowering of IOP has therapeutic benefit, which point to the importance of biomechanics and mechanobiology in this disease. After providing background information about glaucoma, I will in this talk describe how imaging is helping our understanding of glaucoma. For example, we have used OCT anterior segment imaging to infer mechanical properties of the tissues responsible for controlling IOP, and to relate these properties to the function of these tissues. We have also used photoacoustic imaging to track the location of stem cells delivered into the eye in an attempt to refunctionalize tissues damaged in glaucoma. These efforts are highly collaborative, involving imaging scientists, surgeons, pharmacologists and biomedical engineers.
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