Professor, Ophthalmology
School of Medicine

Professor, Biomedical Engineering
The Henry Samueli School of Engineering

Laser-tissue interactions, ophthalmic applications of femtosecond lasers, design of clinical laser systems, biomedical imaging

Femtosecond (FS) lasers can be delivered through transparent and translucent tissue and capable of creating subsurface incisions without any damage to the superficial tissue. This provides a unique opportunity to perform non-invasive high-precision surgery beneath the tissue surface with minimized surgical trauma to the patient. Although femtosecond lasers have potential surgical applications in numerous human organs, the human eye clearly the most attractive target for FS laser surgery due to the presence of transparent ocular media to the near infrared FS laser light. My research is focusing on the investigations of the surgical effects of femtosecond laser pulses in different ocular tissue and the development of non-invasive high-precision ophthalmic surgical procedures. After successful applications in refractive and cataract surgery it became clear that femtosecond laser technology is providing a unique opportunity to establish a non-invasive long-lasting treatment for glaucoma with practically no surgical trauma to the eye. My current research project is aiming to study the basic science of the FS laser glaucoma treatment with a final goal of providing requirements for the development of a clinically applicable technology.

2018: Collaborative work with Prof Gerard Mourou on development of femtosecond lasers for ophthalmic surgery was discussed by Prof. Mourou (2018 Nobel Laurate in Physics) during his Nobel Lecture.
2018: First commercial ophthalmic laser developed in collaboration with prof. Gerard Mourou (2018 Nobel Laurate in Physics) is exhibited in the Nobel Museum in Stockholm, Sweden.
2016: Graduate Success Honoree: Elected to the group of 50 most successful graduates of UC Irvine during the University’s 50 year of existence. University of California, Irvine (Irvine, CA).
2016: Honorary Member, Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Budapest, Hungary
2015: Honorary Member, Eotvos Lorand Physical Society, Budapest, Hungary.
2013: Doctor Honoris Causa (Honorary Doctorate Degree) Semmelweis University,
Budapest, Hungary
2012: Visionary Honoree of the Foundation Fighting Blindness, Irvine, CA
2002: Berthold Leibinger Innovation Prize for the development and commercialization of femtosecond laser surgical technology, Stuttgart, Germany

Tibor Juhasz obtained his Ph.D. in physics. Shortly after graduation his research interest turned towards investigating the interactions of laser light with biological tissue. His laser-tissue interaction studies provided the bases of clinical applications of femtosecond lasers in ophthalmology. He was co-founder of IntraLase and LenSx, the first two companies pioneered clinical applications of femtosecond lasers in the fields of refractive surgery and cataract surgery, respectively. His current research project is aiming the development of a non-invasive long-lasting surgical treatment for glaucoma based on image guided femtosecond laser technology.

Mikula E.R., Holland G., Srass H., Suarez C., Jester V., Juhasz T., Intraocular Pressure Reduction by Femtosecond Laser Created Trabecular Channels in Perfused Human Anterior Segments. Translational Vision Science and Technology, 10(9), 22, (2021).

Bradford S., Mikula E.R., Kim S.W., Xie Y., Juhasz T., Brown D.J., & Jester, J.V. ,Nonlinear Optical Crosslinking, Mechanical Stiffening, and Corneal Flattening using Amplified Femtosecond Pulses. Translational Vision Science and Technology, 8(6), 35, (2019).

Mikula ER, Jester JV, Juhasz T: Measurement of an Elasticity Map in the Human Cornea. Invest Ophthalmol Vis Sci 57:3282-3286, (2016).

Mikula E, Hollman K, Jester J, Juhasz T, “Measurement of Localized Corneal Elasticity with an Acoustic Radiation Force Elasticity Microscope” Ultrasound in Medicine & Biology, 40(7): 1671-9 (2014).

Chai D; Chaudhary G, Mikula E, Sun H, Kurtz R, Juhasz T. “In vivo femtosecond laser subsurface scleral treatment in rabbit eyes.” Lasers in Surgery and Medicine. Volume: 42, Issue: 7, Pages: 647-51. Sept. 2010. DOI: 10.1002/lsm.20954 (2010).

H. Kaz Soong, S. Mian, O. Abbasi and T. Juhasz. Femtosecond Laser Assisted Posterior Lamellar Keratoplasty: Initial studies in eyebank eyes. Ophthalmology112: 44-49 (2005).

I.Ratkay-Traub, T. Juhasz, C. Horvath, L. Nordan, G. Jotyan, G. Mourou, R.M. Kurtz, Femtosecond Laser Eye Surgery: Initial Demonstration in Humans, Clinics of North America 14, 347-355, (2001)

T. Juhasz, F. Loesel. R. M. Kurtz, C. Horvath, and G. Mourou, Femtosecond Laser Refractive Corneal Surgery, (Invited Paper), IEEE Journal of Special Topics in Quantum Electronics, 5, 902 (1999).

Non-Invasive Femtosecond Laser Glaucoma Surgery Guided by Micron-Resolution OCT (NIH R01)

Postdoctoral Training
UC Irvine 1987—1990

Gavin Herbert Eye Institute

Link to this profile
https://faculty.uci.edu/profile/?facultyId=7004

Last updated
09/11/2021