Abstract: The cornea is the transparent tissue that forms the outer layer of the eye. It plays a key role in vision through both its transparency and its specific curvature. This shape is maintained by the cornea’s inherent curvature and its mechanical properties, as the tissue is naturally under pressure. These mechanical properties are largely determined by the microstructural organisation of the tissue, which consists of stacked collagen fibril lamellae, similar in structure to plywood. However, the volumetric deformation of the human cornea has been little studied, with most research focusing on the behaviour of the cornea tangential to its surface. I will discuss the importance of a better understanding of the role of mechanical properties in the detection and treatment of pathologies such as keratoconus or myopia, and the approaches we have recently developed to improve the measurement of mechanical properties, from the full tissue to its microstructure.
Bio: Jean-Marc Allain is working at the LMS (Solid Mechanics Laboratory) in Ecole Polytechnique (Paris, France). Allain got his PhD in 2005 from Université Paris-Cité in Paris, France. After post-doctoral stays at Boston University (Micah Dembo’s team), he joined the LMS laboratory in 2006. Since his PhD, his research interests deal with the mechanics of biological materials. In particular, since 2011 he has been developing, in close collaboration with Dr. Marie-Claire Schanne-Klein in LOB at Ecole Polytechnique, a research program on multi-scale mechanics of the collagen-rich tissues, that is to say materials mostly made of collagen fibers and able to sustain large strains such as tendon, skin or cornea. So far, he has published 42 research articles, and four book chapters.
Host: Vicky Nguyen