As part of their study of the causes of glaucoma, USF’s Christopher Passaglia and team have been able to continually measure and manipulate eye pressure in rats with a device the rodents wear like a backpack. They found that intraocular eye pressure varies throughout the day. For instance, intraocular pressure may rise significantly when a subject sleeps, but return to normal levels when they wake.

Passaglia believes there is an association between circadian rhythm and eye pressure. The lab has also created a portable pump to inject fluid into the eye to set intraocular pressure to any desired level. Passaglia hopes to use the device to determine what causes cell death in the eye that typically leads to glaucoma.

• Christopher Passaglia