Projects & Opportunities

Each year many BME students complete their major qualifying project (MQP) in the broad area of biomechanics. These projects often span multiple disciplines and are often done in conjunction with the University of Massachusetts Medical School (UMMS), Tufts University School of Veterinary Medicine, and/or local companies. Below is a list of recent projects categorized by general areas of biomechanics research with links to the advisors for these projects.

Tissue mechanics

Delamination mechanics of normal and engineered skin (Pins)

Mechanics of Biomaterials

Properties of equine cancellous bone (Savilonis)
Mechanical behavior of porous scaffolds used for tissue engineering (Shivkumar)
Electrospinning of porous biopolymer structures (Shivkumar)
Electrospinning of nano-layered biopolymer structures (Shivkumar)
Characterization of biomaterials for tissue approximation (Pins)

Rehabilitation engineering and locomotion

Horseshoe study (Savilonis)
Design of assistive devices for the disabled (Ault, Hoffman)

Design of implants

Design of a human lumbar disc prosthesis (Pins, Sotak)
Bone fracture fixation device (Savilonis)

Design of medical and surgical instruments

Improved design of a dental device (Ault)
Optimization of a sternum fixation device (Billiar, Pins, Dunn)
Skin tonometer for assessing edema (Billiar, Dunn)
Design of assistive tools for surgical procedures
Medical device research
Redesign of a root canal device (Shivkumar)
Suture assist device (Cobb)

Biofluid mechanics and transport

Pulsatile flow generator for studying wave propagation in blood vessels (Savilonis)

Cell mechanics

Role of pullulan production in the adhesion of A. pullulans (Camesano)
Effect of cranberry on bacterial adhesion to urinary catheters (Camesano)

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Last modified: August 11, 2008 15:48:59