Interaction Mechanics of a Stiff Hollow Tube Penetrating a Soft Nonlinear Material

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Recently there has been a substantial and growing interest in the medical community to develop next-generation surgical needles to reduce tissue damage during percutaneous interventional procedures. Innovative solutions to the challenge may be found in nature. Insects such as honeybees, mosquitos, and wasps have sophisticated stinger structures and stinging mechanisms, which help them to effectively steer their stingers to specific targets. This award supports fundamental research to study these insertion mechanisms and to obtain knowledge on insertion mechanics as a basis for designing bioinspired surgical needles. Innovative needling devices employing nature-inspired insertion mechanisms will enhance the effectiveness of various existing percutaneous procedures and improve the patients' comfort, and therefore benefit a wide range of medical diagnoses and treatments including those related to cancers. In addition, bioinspired needles with improved controllability can also help develop new medical procedures for biopsy, drug delivery, brain surgery, and many other percutaneous procedures. Through the course of the research work, this project also aims to educate the next generation of scientists and engineers by mentorship and development of new educational materials. Moreover, this project will enhance the engagement of underrepresented groups and women in STEM education and training, and disseminate the state-of-the-art knowledge obtained from research activities to a broad range of audience including the general public and high school students in a variety of public forums such as science fairs, open house events, and summer programs. Lack of mechanics-based understanding of bioinspired needle-tissue interactions has been a major obstacle preventing effective design and development of transformative surgery needling technologies. This project will address the challenges in applying bioinspired designs to advanced needling technologies by extending our understanding of mechanical interactions between artificial components (bioinspired needles) and biological systems (soft tissues). Achievement of this goal will be facilitated by understanding the insertion and extraction mechanics of bioinspired needles through experimental studies, studying the effect of manufacturing conditions on the mechanical properties of the needle components, and predicting the insertion behavior using analytical and simulation methods. The outcome of this work will provide novel knowledge on mechanical behavior of bioinspired needle under relevant conditions, and assist development of reliable predictive needle-insertion models for advanced surgeries.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.