Seminar Schedule – Summer 2018

Tuesday, August 14, 2018
Time: 1:00pm – 3:30pm
Place: WRW 102

Skin mechanics and mechanobiology across scales

Adrian Buganza, Purdue University

Skin is our indispensable barrier against outside harms while at the same time allowing us to move and interact with the world and with others. However, the mechanical integrity of this tissue can be compromised, for example in skin cancer, trauma, or due to surgical procedures in general. This talk will present recent advances in skin biomechanics with emphasis on two applications: i) skin growth in tissue expansion, ii) scar progression and wound complications following reconstructive surgery. Tissue expansion (TE) is a technique that leverages the unique ability of living systems to adapt to mechanical loads. Despite being the most common treatment for breast reconstruction after mastectomy, skin adaptation to mechanical cues remains poorly understood and TE protocols continue to cause complications and suboptimal outcomes. A computational model of skin growth based on a continuum mechanics framework and a custom finite element implementation is presented. Predictions of the computational model have been verified with our innovative animal model of TE. In the second part of the talk, the application of finite element tools to optimize reconstructive procedures and anticipate wound complications in patient-specific cases are explored. Excessive mechanical stress has been indisputably linked to wound complications such as hypertrophic scarring. Yet, surgeons currently lack tools to predict stress contours from reconstructive procedures. Key contributions of the work presented are the acquisition of individualized geometries with multi-view stereo algorithms, and the propagation of material behavior uncertainty through nonlinear finite element models. Finally, a systems mechanobiology model of wound healing is presented, which allows to couple the mechanical environment with the progression of a scar.

For further information, please contact Dr. Manuel Rausch at manuel.rausch@utexas.edu or (650) 283-0262.