Contemporary Characterization Methods in Collagenous Tissue Biomechanics

TOPICAL COLLECTIONS

Guest Editors

Chung-Hao Lee

The University of Oklahoma, Norman, OK, 73079, School of Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering, Biomechanics & Biomaterials Design Laboratory

Chung-Hao Lee is assistant professor at the University of Oklahoma (OU). His lab focuses on heart valve experimental tissue biomechanics and multiscale modeling as previously and currently funded by the American Heart Association (AHA), the Presbyterian Health Foundation, and Oklahoma Center for the Advancement of Science and Technology. Prior to his faculty career at OU, Chung-Hao received his PhD in Civil Engineering from UCLA in 2011, followed by a 4-year postdoctoral fellowship at UT Austin, affording him a solid foundation in the field of soft tissue biomechanics. During his tenure at OU, Chung-Hao has established a unique and strong undergraduate research program that regularly trains undergrads with cutting-edge cardiovascular biomechanics research and produces 7 MS and 3 PhD students for fostering a sustainable lab. In recognition of his excellent teaching and mentoring, Chung-Hao received the Nancy Mergler Faculty Award for Undergraduate Research (2018) and University Distinguished Teaching Award (2020).

Devin Laurence

The University of Oklahoma, Norman, OK, 73079, School of Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering, Biomechanics & Biomaterials Design Laboratory

Devin received his BS (2018), MS (2019), and PhD (2022) in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Oklahoma (OU), where he is the recipient of the NSF Graduate Research Fellowship and the AHA/CHF Pre-Doctoral Fellowship. His dissertation research with Dr. Chung-Hao Lee seeks to integrate experimental and computational approaches to improve our understanding of the tricuspid heart valve. Following the completion of his dissertation in Spring 2022, Devin plans to continue his academic journey and establish his lab focusing on understanding the intricate structure-function relationship of soft biological tissues.

Collection Overview

Collagenous soft tissues are found throughout the body and serve critical roles in the human physiology. For example, the cardiac heart valves continuously open and close over 2 billion times in one lifetime to allow for healthy, unidirectional blood flow throughout the body. On the other hand, the tympanic membrane, or ear drum, transforms sound waves into mechanical vibrations for the eventual creation of perceived sound by the inner ear. The unique arrangement of collagen fibers and structure-function relationship for each tissue requires extensive experimental characterizations to fully understand the tissue’s behaviors.

Recently, biomechanics-focused experiments have improved our understanding of the collagenous soft tissues’ mechanical behaviors, collagen fiber architectures, and microstructural arrangements. The information acquired using these methods is help when developing in-silico tools that predict the behavior of collagenous soft tissues in healthy and diseased scenarios. Ultimately, the experimental data and in-silico discoveries will be useful to provide clinical recommendations for the enhancement or development of successful therapeutics. The purpose of this collection is to gather protocols that allow for the experimental assessment of collagenous soft tissue mechanical, structural, and morphological properties. All experimental methods with applications to collagenous soft tissues will be considered relevant.