MEMS Seminar: Mechanics as a non-invasive microscope: Full-field methods for inference of soft tissue microstructure

About this event

Callan Luetkemeyer, PhD, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

Abstract : Mechanical imaging techniques, such as elastography, measure full-field tissue deformation with sub-micron sensitivity. These measurements provide a unique opportunity to non-invasively probe microscale tissue structure, with important implications for biomedical research and diagnostics. However, despite the rich information contained in these deformation fields, current inverse methods typically collapse them into linear and isotropic estimates of tissue stiffness, even though higher-order constitutive behaviors often better distinguish between healthy and pathological states. In this seminar, I will discuss the development of full-field experimental and computational inverse frameworks to identify microstructure-informed constitutive properties of soft tissues, both in the lab and in vivo . Examples include full-field indentation microscopy to identify mechano-biomarkers of uterine infertility and multi-excitation magnetic resonance elastography to characterize the nonlinear, anisotropic properties of the living brain. Ultimately, I hope to convince you that, by more fully exploiting the latent information in full-field deformation measurements, mechanical imaging can serve as a non-invasive microscope through which to “see” tissue microstructure and disease.