114821 event 1331055020 1475891895 <![CDATA[Nano@Tech with Dr. Delphine Dean]]> Nano@Tech welcomes Clemson University Assistant Professor Delphine Dean, on "Nano and Micromechanics of Biological Tissues"

Abstract:
Using a variety of experimental techniques and modeling approaches, the mechanical properties of biological tissues can be characterized over a large range of length scales. One can look at interactions between molecules (nanoscale), cellular mechanics (microscale), or bulk tissue properties (macroscale). In this talk, I will discuss several projects in which the nanomechanical properties and interactions of a variety of biological tissues are characterized. We will discuss several results where we characterized directly individual cardiovascular cell mechanical properties as a function of microenvironment. We used atomic force microscopy (AFM) in conjunction with confocal microscopy to directly measure cell mechanical properties and interactions. For instance, we measured the effect of matrix composition and structure on cardiac cell mechanical properties in vitro. The extracellular matrix can modulate cell mechanical properties and these microenvironmental cues can lead to changes in cell phenotype and function. In our study, cells were shown to stiffen depending on the type of the underlying protein (e.g., collagen vs. fibronectin) as well as whether the matrix was randomly oriented or aligned. By creating engineered microenvironments using lithographic and nanoparticle techniques, we can design experiments that will determine the dependence of cell mechanical function on environmental factors. Our eventual goal is to build better models of the cardiac and vascular cell mechanical environment.

About the speaker:
Dr. Delphine Dean is assistant professor of bioengineering at Clemson University. She earned her Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science from MIT in 2005 and started her faculty position at Clemson in January 2007. Her lab leads a wide range of studies focused on understanding mechanics and interactions of biological systems across length scales. Her expertise is in nano- to micro-scale characterization of biological tissues including experimental techniques such as atomic force microscopy and mathematical modeling such as finite element analysis. Some of her prior work has focused on cartilage macromolecular interactions and characterizing the effect of the microenvironment on cardiovascular cell mechanical properties and, more recently, she has led several studies investigating the use of dental pulp stem cells for tissue engineering applications.

]]> Nano@Tech welcomes Clemson University Assistant Professor Delphine Dean, on "Nano and Micromechanics of Biological Tissues"

]]>
Paul Turgeon
Microelectronics Research Center
404-894-4005

]]>
<![CDATA[]]> http://www.clemson.edu/ces/mbem/DeanHome.html 1182 1795 26281 569 26291 4315