McKay Orthopaedic Research Laboratory >
Elliott Lab > Fiber-Reinforced Soft Tissue Mechanics
Fiber-Reinforced Soft Tissue Mechanics
Clinical treatments and tissue engineering replacements aim to restore the function of the damaged/injured tissues. However, to evaluate the effectiveness of these procedures, it is necessary to understand the relationship between tissue structure and its mechanical behavior. Our experiments and mathematical modeling of fibrous soft tissues are providing breakthrough findings necessary to understand these relationships. Our areas of focus include:
- Mechanics and Fiber Structure: Polarized light and FFT image processing have been used to evaluate the degenerative effects on fiber re-orientation and mechanical behavior of annulus under uniaxial, biaxial and shear loads.
- Tissue engineering of fiber-reinforced tissues: In collaboration with Dr. Robert Mauck, electrospun nanofibrous scaffolds have been employed to generate engineered nanofibrous biologic laminates that replicate the form and function of the intervertebral disc.
- Finite Element Modeling: Structure-based constitutive relations have been implemented using finite elements to understand and predict the mechanical behavior of fiber-reinforced tissues.
