Nice to meet you!

Just published in this month's Journal of Materials Research--a study on poroelastic nanoindentation characterization for hydrated bone samples.  Poroelastic problems are notoriously difficult to incorporate into routine materials characterization due to the paucity of problems with closed-form solutions.  However, in some cases, a master-curve does exist and parameter identification can be accomplished without requiring inverse finite element analysis and optimization for every condition.  The abstract follows, linked from here .

Poroelastic nanoindentation responses of hydrated bone, J. Mater. Res. 23 (2008) 1307.

Summer School on "Modeling and Computation in Biomechanics"

A one-week Summer School on "Modeling and Computation in Biomechanics" will take place in Graz, Austria, in September 15-19, 2008. The aim of the Summer School is to present a state of-the-art introduction to biomechanical modeling and computation at different length scales. The emphasis s on the nonlinear behavior embracing models of molecular dynamics, single filaments, etwork structures, the cytoskeleton and the nucleus. Multiscale models and ontinuum models for soft tissues including arteries, aortic valves, cartilage and the cornea will also be presented.

PhD Position: Solid Mechanics/Biomechanics at KTH-Stockholm

A four to five-year PhD position focusing on the analysis of multi-scale phenomena in diseased blood vessels including atherosclerotic plaques has recently been opened at KTH Solid Mechanics. The position is fully supported by the Swedish Research Council.

I am pleased to announce that Volume 1, Number 2 of the the recently-launched Journal of the Mechanical Behavior of Biomedical Materials (www.elsevier.com/locate/jmbbm) has been published by Elsevier. All JMBBM articles can be accessed free-of-charge on ScienceDirect until September 2008 (http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/17516161).

FACULTY POSITION
 
 
MECHANICAL ENGINEERING
COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, SANTA BARBARA
 
 

We present a coupled mathematical model of growth and failure of the abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA). The failure portion of the model is based on the constitutive theory of softening hyperelasticity where the classical hyperelastic law is enhanced with a new constant indicating the maximum energy that an infinitesimal material volume can accumulate without failure. The new constant controls material failure and it can be interpreted as the average energy of molecular bonds from the microstructural standpoint.

As the most rigid cytoskeletal filaments, microtubules bear compressive forces in living cells, balancing the tensile forces within the cytoskeleton to maintain the cell shape. It is often observed that, in living cells, microtubules under compression severely buckle into short wavelengths. By contrast, when compressed, isolated microtubules in vitro buckle into single long-wavelength arcs. The critical buckling force of the microtubules in vitro is two orders of magnitude lower than that of the microtubules in living cells.

Please visit www.jove.com

You'll find tons of video about biological experiments you might be interested in. It is very useful for most of mechanicians who lack this kind of knowledge and experience. Enjoy yourself!

Hello,

 I am looking for a job in applied mechanics in California, to start in or around July 2008.  I am trained (Ph.D.) in applied mathematics, modeling, and computational mechanics (of biological tissues), general continuum mechanics, constitutive modeling, and optimal control.  Greatly interested in dynamic modeling and analysis, stress / thermal analysis, and modeling problems related to design, e.g. medical devices.  Will be glad to be more involved in design.

 My CV, including my contact information, can be found at  http://math.uci.edu/~sadovsky/docs/cv-02-2008.pdf

 If seeking such candidates, please email me.  Thanks!

Helix is a very interesting structure. There are many biopolymers that have a helical structure. 

• How can someone model the helix in mechanics?
• How can the helix reinforce a rod? 
• How does this structure reflect the mechanical properties of biopolymers?

Columbia University
Department of Civil Engineering and Engineering Mechanics

The Department of Civil Engineering and Engineering Mechanics invites applications for TWO tenure-track faculty positions to support a Department initiative in Sustainable Engineering. Qualified individuals are sought with expertise in either:

(1) Computational mechanics - with an emphasis on large-scale computing applied to multi-scale, multi-phase modeling of materials (from nano- to macro-scale), and/or mechanics and materials challenges in energy and/or the environment.

(2) Experimental mechanics - with emphasis on mechanics and materials challenges in energy and/or the environment, composites and other complex multi-scale, multi-phase materials.

The 2008 ASME Summer Bioengineering conference will be held in Amelia Island, FL; June 25-29 2008.  The call for papers is here .  The abstract center can be reached here ; abstracts are due by 31 January, 2008.  Besides the general abstract category, submissions by students may be eligible for the student competition category (competed independently at B.S., M.S. and PhD levels). Further information on the scope of the student paper competitions can be found here .

Professor Y. C. Fung, Professor Emeritus of Bioengineering at UC San Diego's Jacobs School of Engineering, is the recipient of the Fritz J. and Dolores H. Russ Prize of 2007.

The Russ Prize is presented biannually to an outstanding candidate in the field of bioengineering who has made significant contributions to improving the human condition through research, development, teaching, or management. The recipient receives a $500,000 cash award and an engraved gold medallion.

Simpleware Ltd. and COMSOL Inc. announced at the COMSOL Users Conference 2007 in Grenoble a partnership agreement to provide an export interface from Simpleware's world-leading 3D image-based meshing software +ScanFE™ to COMSOL Multiphysics® 3.4, the industry's foremost multiphysics simulation environment. The +ScanFE interface enables COMSOL users to directly import high-quality meshes generated from MRI, CT, and MicroCT scan data into COMSOL Multiphysics 3.4 for modelling and simulation without requiring re-meshing or pre-processing.

How does the cell know when to produce a protein? Why does it produce this protein? How does it produce this protein so accurately, in transcription, timing, and concentration? It is amazing that the cell functions as precisely as it needs to in response to various stimuli. What is more amazing is that the cell's actions are a result of stochastic processes.

Simpleware Ltd., the world leader in image-based meshing software, has signed a reseller agreement with Vangest Group, a provider of most advanced solutions in project, development and manufacturing.

June 14, 2007, Materialise released a new and improved version
of its image processing software Mimics. It will again raise the bar in image
processing and editing based on stacked data such as CT and MRI. Continuous
development and support have resulted in the release of Mimics 11.

Mimics is a powerful, yet easy to use software, that boosts
cutting edge research to an even higher level by creating accurate 3D
structures from scanned images and providing a link to Rapid Prototyping (RP),
Computer Aided Engineering and Design (CAE/CAD), Finite Element Analysis (FEA) and
Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD). It also allows to perform virtual surgery.

June 1st  2007, Materialise announced the winners of the Mimics Innovation Awards 2007 at the International Mimics User Group Meeting in Washington, D.C. 

We congratulate:

(cross-post to Biomch-L )

Two symposia solicit papers on biomechanics topics for the upcoming Materials Research Society meeting, November 26-30, 2007, Boston,  MA.  Short-form abstracts are due 20 June, 2007.

Symposium AA, Fundamentals of Nanoindentation and Nanotribology IV, solicits papers on the subject of nanomechanical characterization of  biological materials including biomolecules, cells and tissues.   Further details can be found here .

The diet pill industry is worth billions per year in the US alone so there’s huge incentive for companies to market miracle pills and the 1994 Dietary Supplement Act makes it easy. Just ask Bob Park. This means that neither safety nor efficacy need to be proven for “natural” remedies and this has predictable results.

Abstract: Dragonfly wings, which consist of the veins and membranes, are highly specialized flight organs adapted to cope with the individual flight behavior of each dragonfly. Therefore, it is important and necessary from a bionic view that the investigation on microstructure of elements how to affect their mechanical behaviors. In this study, we focus on effects of microstructure on mechanical characteristics of dragonfly wing vein. These results indicate that the microstructure of vein is a complex sandwich structure due to being obviously superior to one typical material, which consists of chitin shell and protein meat with some fibrils. This sandwich structure can be subjected to the rather greater bending loading and torsional deformation based on the von Mises stress and flexural deformation analysis of finite element method (FEM). They assist us to understand and design the new high strength-to-weight ratio of composite materials or structure.

Accepted by Composites Science and Technology

Hi everyone!

I'm looking for a good comprehencive overview about bio-mechanics and numerical simulation in

bio-mechanics. I'm mainly interested in the following topics:

-- mathematical models for bone simulation

-- contact problems and corresponding models (e.g., bone-prosthesis models, etc.)

-- corresponding numerics/simulations

and corresponding state-of-the-art.

Thanks in advance!