Multidisciplinary Mechano-Medicine:

Altered tissue mechanics contribute to debilitating health problems and often require mechanical stimulation to promote the healing process. For example, tissue fibrosis, a feature of myocardial infarction and cancer, is typically accompanied by increased tissue stiffness due to excessive deposition of extracellular matrix. Mechanical signals, either from the intrinsic mechanical properties of local microenvironment or externally imposed stimulation, are sensed by cells through a process termed mechanotransduction, which translates physical signals into changes in cell function, and can relieve or exacerbate these disorders. In this context, our research vision is to study the next generation of precision medicine through mechanobiology, biomechanics, and advanced materials interfaces (namely, mechano-medicine) to help prevent, detect, and treat challenging health problems. This essentially involves a broad scope of research towards understanding biological-mechanical impacts from the cellular level to the tissue & animal levels, and leveraging those findings to design novel medical devices/materials for translational medicine.