Vocal fold tissue engineering and sensors for physiological monitoring

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The proposed research program aims at the development of novel tissue engineering methods and stethoscopes that may lead to improved diagnosis and treatment of voice, respiratory, and cardiovascular disorders, which are pervasive and affect a large fraction of the population, at high socioeconomic costs. These physiological problems are mainly caused by the malfunction of relatively soft tissues and organs, namely vocal folds, lungs and heart. These soft tissues are highly anisotropic, as they contain fibrillary proteins such as collagen. The dynamics of voice, respiration and blood flow result in surface bending or Rayleigh waves, shear waves, or compressional acoustic waves that are highly damped and scattered through air-tissue or blood-tissue interfaces as well as through the skeletal components of the body.