The cervix is a biochemically active tissue that changes its biomechanical properties in a remodeling process during pregnancy to be prepared for parturition. This maturation process is associated with changes of the mechanical properties of the cervical stroma. Preterm delivery is connected with undesired cervical changes bound to cervical ripening. Non-destructive evaluation using ultrasonic ...

How tissue shape emerges from the collective mechanical properties and behavior of individual cells is not understood. We combine experiment and theory to study this problem in the developing wing epithelium of Drosophila. At pupal stages, the wing-hinge contraction contributes to anisotropic tissue flows that reshape the wing blade. Here, we quantitatively account for this wing-blade shape cha...

Mechanical damage to axons is a proximal cause of deficits following traumatic brain injury and spinal cord injury. Axons are injured predominantly by tensile strain, and identifying the strain experienced by axons is a critical step towards injury prevention. White matter demonstrates complex non-linear mechanical behavior at the continuum level that evolves from even more complex, dynamic, co...

Chondrocytes isolated from a variety of sources, including auricular (AU) and articular (AR) cartilage, can differ in cell behavior, growth, and extracellular matrix (ECM) production, which can impact neocartilage properties in tissue engineering approaches. This behavior is also affected by the surrounding microenvironment, including soluble factors, biomaterials, and mechanical loading. The o...

Introduction: Magnetic Resonance Elastography (MRE) is capable to measure the mechanical properties of living tissue by externally introduced shear vibrations and phase contrast MRI [1]. In multifrequency MRE the complex shear modulus G*(ω) of biological tissue is measured at various mechanical vibration frequencies simultaneously. Viscoelastic tissue parameters can then be calculated by fittin...

The major challenge in biology today is biocomplexity: the need to explain how cell and tissue behaviors emerge from collective interactions within complex molecular networks. Part I of this two-part article, described a mechanical model of cell structure based on tensegrity architecture that explains how the mechanical behavior of the cell emerges from physical interactions among the different...

The challenge to develop grafts for tissue regeneration lies in the need to obtain a scaffold that will promote cell growth in order to form new tissue at a trauma-damaged site. Scaffolds also need to provide compatible mechanical properties that will support the new tissue and facilitate the desired physiological activity. Here, we used natural materials to develop a bio-composite made of uniq...