Title:

Hierarchical Mechanics and Regeneration of Soft Biological Tissues and Single Cells

Speaker:

Dr. Corey Neu

Affiliation:

Purdue University

When:

Tuesday, September 17, 2013 at 11:00:00 AM   Add to Calendar

Where:

MRDC Building, Room 4211

Host:

Dr. Robert Guldberg
robert.guldberg@me.gatech.edu

Abstract

Knowledge of the mechanics of cells and tissues in their native physiologic environment is critical to understand the conditions that must be replicated when engineering replacement biomaterials. A thorough understanding of the micromechanical environment of healthy tissue will improve the ability to quantify cellular responses to physical stimuli, track the progression of tissue damage or degeneration, and fabricate and evaluate biomimetic biomaterials. My lab is dedicated to the study of multiscale biomechanics, mechanobiology, and regeneration of soft biological tissues. An emphasis is placed on the design of tools to assess and treat osteoarthritis, a debilitating disease of articular cartilage and joints that afflicts nearly 20% of people in the United States. Here, we will present our efforts to implement novel imaging techniques, involving magnetic resonance imaging and optical microscopy, to noninvasively describe internal patterns of strain, stress, and material properties throughout the volume of complex tissues and biomaterials. We will highlight recent achievements, including specialized imaging methods to characterize tissue mechanics in vivo and reveal deformation in musculoskeletal tissues exhibiting short T2 values, and hybrid methods that link intranuclear deformation to newly synthesized RNAs. We will further present our integrated efforts to regenerate articular cartilage, including the treatment of membrane damage in post-traumatic osteoarthritis, and the repair of osteochondral defects using magnetically-aligned collagens. Preliminary biomechanical data in musculoskeletal tissues and single cells, with direct implications for mechanobiology and regeneration, will be presented.

Biography

Dr. Corey Neu received his Sc.B. in mechanical engineering and Sc.M. in biomedical engineering from Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island. He completed his Ph.D. in biomedical engineering in 2004 at the University of California at Davis. He was a postdoctoral scientist in the Center for Regeneration and Repair at UC Davis Medical Center, and in mechanical engineering at University of California at Berkeley, from 2004 to 2007. He was an assistant adjunct professor of orthopedic surgery at the University of California at Davis until 2008, and has since been an assistant professor in the Weldon School of Biomedical Engineering at Purdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana.

Notes

Refreshments will be served.