Projects
Articular cartilage (AC) experiences a high level of biomechanical stress over many decades and, in many cases, can tolerate years of repetitive loading. However, AC damage and degeneration occur often with traumatic joint injury and advancing age at particular sites, such as the knee and hip. AC has a poor intrinsic healing capacity that is likely related to its low cellularity, metabolic activity, and avascularity. One clinical strategy for treating degenerated AC is tissue engineering of constructs in vitro followed by their implantation into defects in vivo, after which maturation occurs. The attainment of a number of specific design goals related to tissue composition, structure, and function are likely to be critical to the development of a consistently successful strategy for the repair of cartilage defects.
The long-term goals of our research are twofold: (1) to develop an analytical cartilage growth model, using the methods of continuum mechanics, that may serve as a paradigm for the in vitro growth of tissue engineered constructs; and (2) to develop experimental protocols to characterize the time-dependent evolution of AC tissue composition and mechanical properties during in vitro tissue engineering growth protocols. We hope that our research efforts may provide a better understanding of biophysical regulation and biomechanical function of in vitro growth of cartilage explants and aid in the consistently successful design and fabrication of tissue engineered cartilage constructs. Details of several past research projects are provided on the pages listed below.
© 2008 Stephen M. Klisch | Mechanical Engineering