# Scleral Remodeling in Myopia

> **NIH NIH R01** · UNIVERSITY OF ALABAMA AT BIRMINGHAM · 2020 · $367,500

## Abstract

Project Summary/Abstract
 The prevalence of myopia in the U.S. population is constantly growing, increasing the risk for associated
blinding diseases such as glaucoma and retinal detachment. A myopic eye is too long for its own optics and
there is currently no accepted method to prevent, slow or control myopia progression. Increasing evidence
suggest that the eye's axial length is modulated by unknown growth and remodeling mechanisms in the sclera.
Our goal is to elucidate these mechanisms and to develop a treatment strategy based on scleral crosslinking
(SXL) using subconjunctival injections of a low cytotoxicity collagen crosslink agent. Our central hypotheses
are that scleral collagen remodeling underlies myopia progression, and that SXL can be used to control scleral
remodeling and inhibit myopia progression. The long-term goal of this project is to elucidate the key growth and
remodeling mechanisms in myopia, and to provide a safe and effective treatment modality to control myopia
progression.
 We will use an established experimental model of myopia, innovative imaging techniques, and multi-scale
computational simulation tools to gain insight into the mechanisms that underlies scleral remodeling in myopia.
We test the hypothesis that SXL inhibits myopia progression while permitting physiological eye development
and maintaining retinal structure and function. We will use principals of engineering and material science to
quantify scleral remodeling in the sclera and to test the hypotheses that scleral deformations increase at
different length-scales during myopia development and decrease after SXL.
 Support for scleral remodeling control by SXL could be directly translated to a new clinical treatment
strategy for myopia. Even if our results do not support the safe usage of SXL for myopia control, the knowledge
we gain about scleral growth and remodeling and its quantification would lead to a completely new
understanding of the multi-scale mechanisms underlying myopia development, and would provide a powerful
platform to develop alternative clinical control modalities of myopia.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10013234
- **Project number:** 5R01EY026588-05
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF ALABAMA AT BIRMINGHAM
- **Principal Investigator:** Rafael Grytz
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $367,500
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2016-09-01 → 2022-08-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10013234

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10013234, Scleral Remodeling in Myopia (5R01EY026588-05). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-25 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10013234. Licensed CC0.

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