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Multiscale Mechanics of Bioengineered Tissues

Contents

• Contact Information
• Funding Agency 
• Research Emphasis 
• Scales Examined 
• Biomedical, Biological and Behavioral Areas
• Modeling Methods and Tools Areas
• Software Development 

Contact Information

Principal Investigator/Contact
Victor Barocas
University of Minnesota
Phone: (612) 626-5572
Fax: (612) 626-6583
E-mail: baroc001@tc.umn.edu

Grant Number - 1-R01-EB005813-01

Funding Agency

National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineeering (NIH-NIBIB)

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Research Emphasis

This project is a new link between mechanics, computational science, and tissue engineering. The lack of clear understanding of even simple artificial tissues presents an opportunity for major advancement by drawing on the microstructure to describe the material.

The researchers propose to create, implement, validate, and disseminate a computational tool to predict functional scale mechanics based on a network-scale model of engineered tissues.

The large potential impact of engineered tissue, particularly structural cardiovascular tissue, makes this project relevant to public health. Many people need replacement arteries or valves, and there are severe flaws with existing options, creating the need for a new generation of artificial tissues. Understanding, predicting, and controlling the mechanical properties of those tissues will be a critical step forward. 

Tissue engineering is the process of creating functional 3D tissues using cells combined with scaffolds or devices that facilitate cell growth, organization and differentiation.

Abstract

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Scales Examined 

Time Scales

• Nanosecond and below (ns)
• Microsecond (μs)
• Millisecond (ms)
• Second (s)
• Minutes

Biological Scales

• Atomic
• Molecular
• Molecular complexes
• Sub-Cellular
• Cellular
• Multi-Cellular Systems
• Tissue

Length Scales 

• Nanometer and below (nm)
• Micrometer (μm)
• Millimeter (mm)
• Centimeter (cm)

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Biomedical, Biological and Behavioral (BBB) Areas and Percent Focus

50% - Artificial tissues with application to cardiovascular tissue engineering, how fiber diameter affects macroscale properties within engineered cardiovascular tissues, biomechanics, tissue engineering, and materials.

Modeling Methods and Tools (MMT)Areas and Percent Focus

50% - Finite element methods, using volume averaging theory, applying to system, adaptive finite element methods, high performance parallel computing, the last two will bridge between scales – using statistical parameters to solve detailed model, resulting in pseudo-physiologically realistic.

Software Development