Faculty Candidate Seminar
Title: |
Role of mineral and collagen properties in the material and structural behavior of bone |
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Speaker: |
Dr. Eve Donnelly |
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Affiliation: |
Hospital for Special Surgery |
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When: |
Monday, April 25, 2011 at 11:00:00 AM |
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Where: |
MRDC Building, Room 4211 |
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Host: |
Dr. Andres Garcia | |
Abstract Bone tissue plays a critical structural role in the skeleton, yet relatively little is known about the microstructure-mechanical property relationships of the tissue. We examine bone tissue from animal models to elucidate fundamental structure-property relationships and biopsies from human patients to understand disease- and treatment-induced changes in bone composition and their relationship to osteoporotic fracture incidence. To examine the contribution of the mineral and collagen constituents to bone mechanical properties across multiple length scales, we examined microstructure-mechanical property relationships in three animal models with heterogeneous bone microstructures using nanoindentation, Raman spectroscopic imaging, and second harmonic generation microscopy. To understand the relationships among bone turnover, material properties, and fracture incidence, we used Fourier transform infrared imaging to characterize changes in the composition of osteoporotic human bone with antiresorptive pharmaceutical treatment. This work informs an emerging understanding of the pathophysiology of bisphosphonate-associated atypical fractures debated in the medical literature and reported in the popular press. Elucidation of microstructure-property relationships in normal and pathologic bone generates insights into the contribution of tissue material properties to skeletal integrity and the processes by which the load-bearing capability of bone is degraded in pathologic tissue. |
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Biography Eve Donnelly is a Postdoctoral Fellow in the Mineralized Tissues Laboratory at the Hospital for Special Surgery. Her current research focuses on characterizing disease- and treatment-induced changes in the properties of mineral and collagen and their effects on fracture risk. She received her Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering at Cornell University, where she examined the role of mineral and collagen on the mechanical properties of bone tissue at multiple length scales. Dr. Donnelly received a NIH Ruth L. Kirchstein National Research Service Award for her current postdoctoral fellowship to study the effects of bone tissue mineral and matrix properties on fracture incidence. She has received the Young Investigator Award from the American Society for Bone and Mineral Research, the New Investigator Recognition Award from the Orthopedic Research Society, and the Alice L. Jee Memorial Young Investigator Award from the Sun Valley Workshop on Skeletal Tissue Biology. |
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