Biomechanics & Mechanobiology

• Mechanobiology of vascular and connective tissue cells (role of stiffness and multiaxial stretch) (Billiar, Pins).
• Soft tissue mechanics (biaxial testing, rheometry, and constitutive modeling of tissues including heart valves, blood vessels, skin, myocardium, and collagen-based biomaterials) (Billiar).
• Mechanics of sternal fixation (Billiar, Pins).
• Functional analysis of cardiac muscle repair (Gaudette).
• Functional analysis of tissue-engineered vascular grafts (Billiar, Gaudette, Rolle).

Dedicated Faculty Members:

• Kristen Billiar 
• Glenn Gaudette
• George Pins
• Marsha Rolle