Multiscale Mechanical Characterization of Biological Tubes

软组织（如血管）的力学行为是复杂的，尚未完全了解。对这种行为的详细研究对于了解心脏和血管等器官的功能非常重要，因为心脏和血管在每次心跳时都会经历反复的压力变化。许多疾病导致组织力学行为和微观结构的改变。因此，了解组织结构、几何形状、机械特性和功能之间的关系可能会导致医疗保健的进步。这个项目的重点是测量血管的结构和力学行为，以及简单的模型系统，如胶原蛋白管。测量的特性将用于建立数学模型，以预测疾病引起的组织功能变化。这项工作的一个重要部分是在微观尺度上测量机械性能，因为局部机械环境控制着组织在发育期间和损伤后的行为。

The mechanical behavior of soft tissues such as blood vessels is complex and not completely understood. A detailed study of this behavior is important to understand the function of organs such as the heart and blood vessels, which undergo repeated changes in pressure during each heart beat. Many diseases result in changes in both mechanical behavior and microscopic structure of tissues. Thus, understanding how tissue structure, geometry, mechanical properties, and function are related may lead to advances in health care. This project focuses on measuring the structure and mechanical behavior of blood vessels, together with simpler model systems such as collagen tubes. The measured properties will be used to build mathematical models that can predict changes in tissue function resulting from disease. An important part of this work is measuring mechanical properties on the microscopic scale, since the local mechanical environment controls how tissues behave during development and after injury.