Mechanobiology is an emerging field at the interface of characterization of mechanical loading environments at different scales. Mechanical forces have been shown to strongly impact development, physiology and disease. An impressive range of tissues and cells are regulated by mechanical loading, and this regulation is central to musculoskeletal tissue homeostasis, tissue adaptation and disease processes such as osteoporosis, osteoarthritis, and sarcopenia. Current projects focus on assessment of bone adaption responses in the in-vivo mouse tibia loading model including high resolution microCT imaging, 3D finite element modeling and development of adaptation algorithms. Furthermore, we develop general 3D adaptation algorithms including bone density adaptation and adaptation of principal material directions. Adaptation processes play a major role in bone applications including loosening of implants and stress shielding.
In-silico biomechanical models: Our group has extensive experience in the development of multiscale computational models for a variety of MSK tissues. These models can be tailored to the individual research question. Current projects in this area include: computer-aided design of biomaterials, osteoporosis disease systems analysis, and musculoskeletal models using the OpenSim model repository.
