Magneto-Mechanical System to Reproduce and Quantify Complex Strain Patterns in Biological Materials

Based on magneto-active polymers, we provide a non-invasive and real-time control methodology to impose complex mechanical forces on biological systems. The device is conceptualised to be suitable for any traditional microscope! See scheme:

We allow for reproducing complex mechanical processes by simulating a set of local strain patterns occurring in real scenarios. We demonstrated this by simulating strain distribution occurring within the brain tissue during a head impact (Knutsen et al., 2020 #BMphi).

The latter is possible thanks to a comprehensive experimental characterisation across scales that motivates a full, finite strain, nonlinear magneto-mechanical modelling approach that connects the scales from the particle to the macroscopic smart substrate.

We finally evaluated the framework’s capability to transmit mechanical forces to cellular systems, subjecting human dermal fibroblasts to magneto-mechanical loading .

Link to the article, published in Applied Materials Today: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apmt.2022.101437