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SUMMARY:MechE Colloquium: Mechanobiology of soft human tissue: a mechanics
  perspective
DTSTART:20231031T120000
DTEND:20231031T130000
DTSTAMP:20260916T044055Z
UID:93344644bfd6c51094dca043bfe243d4e394a8ae1568120fb1186ed6
CATEGORIES:Conferences - Seminars
DESCRIPTION:Prof Edoardo Mazza\, ETHZ\nAbstract: Mechanotherapy is a new 
 field based on emerging evidence of the influence of mechanical processes 
 on physiology and pathology of our organism. Well known examples are the r
 elation between hypertension and progressive vascular stiffening\, or the 
 link between tissue stretch and the formation of hypertrophic scars\, or t
 he detrimental loop leading to increasing tissue rigidity in several fibro
 tic diseases. Mechanobiology is a research field at the interface between 
 biology and mechanics which investigates the relationship between mechanic
 al factors and cell behavior.\nMechanobiology as pursued by biologists mai
 nly analyzes cell internal mechanisms and processes (pathways) activated b
 y mechanical stimuli. The latter typically include tissue deformation\, al
 teration of the stiffness of the extracellular matrix\, and/or flow induce
 d shear stresses. As mechanicians\, we take a different approach and analy
 ze the multiscale mechanical behavior of soft tissues in order to characte
 rize the biophysical environment of cells. Thereby we identified a few fac
 tors influencing cell behavior which were neglected so far. This knowledge
  improves our understanding of mechanotransduction and could potentially c
 ontribute to the identification of new targets for mechanotherapy. \nTwo 
 applications will be presented: (i) alteration of the electro-chemo-mechan
 ical environment of dermal cells associated with skin stretching\, analyze
 d using a quadriphasic model of human dermis\; (ii) mechanical damage of e
 ndothelial monolayers associated with monotonic and cyclic stretching\, ra
 tionalized through a discrete network model of endothelial cells. \n\nBio
 graphy: Edoardo Mazza has been Full Professor of Mechanics at the Institut
 e of Mechanical Systems in the Department of Mechanical and Process Engine
 ering since 2010. He studied mechanical engineering at ETH Zurich and rece
 ived his doctorate at ETH in 1997. For his dissertation on the Mechanical 
 Behavior of Micrometer Sized Structures he was awarded the ETH medal. He h
 as been working in industry from 1997 to 2001. At Alstom Power he was grou
 p leader in the steam turbine R&D department and was responsible for the m
 echanical analysis of stationary and rotatory components. In 2002 he was a
 ppointed as Assistant Professor\, in 2006 as Associate Professor of Mechan
 ics at ETH Zurich. Since 2006 he also leads the laboratory "Experimental 
 Continuum Mechanics" of Empa\, the Federal Laboratories for Materials Scie
 nce and Technology. From 2016 until 2020 he has been president of ETH lect
 urers’ conference (KdL). From 2021 until 2023 he has been Head of Depar
 tment of D-​MAVT\, the Mechanical and Process Engineering Department of 
 ETH Zurich.\nHis research deals with experimental continuum mechanics\, ap
 plied for the solution of challenging engineering problems. Novel experime
 ntal techniques are developed for the characterization of the mechanical r
 esponse of structures and materials. The deformation behavior of soft biol
 ogical tissues in human organs is analyzed at each relevant length scale\,
  and described with appropriate mathematical models. Applications in mecha
 nobiology address the chemo-​physical factors of the extracellular envir
 onment influencing cell behavior. Tissue engineered and synthetic material
 s\, mesh implants and stents are evaluated in terms of “mechanical bioco
 mpatibility”.\n 
LOCATION:MED 0 1418 https://plan.epfl.ch/?room==MED%200%201418 https://epf
 l.zoom.us/j/61626448592
STATUS:CONFIRMED
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