Main Lab
The main laboratory which houses devices for morphological
analysis and mechanical training of biological materials
is 1262 sq. ft.
Major optical equipment includes:
a) Small angle light scattering (SALS)
device (custom built) for quantitative tissue morphology
b) Microscope outfitted with digital video capturing
c) Two light microscopes
d) Three dissection scopes
Major equipment includes:
a) Dual specimen cyclic fatigue tester for soft
biomaterials fatigue testing, including special grips for both
tensile and flexural fatigue testing
b) Novel heart valve imaging device consisting of a
physiological simulation flow loop coupled with a structured
light projection device for 3D reconstruction of dynamic heart
valve leaflet motion
c) Several bioreactors for
controlled stretch and flexure of soft biological materials
under cell-culture conditions
d) Two physiological
simulation flow loops capable of incubating intact valves
(either native or engineered) in cell culture conditions
Biomechanical Testing Lab
A lab devoted to mechanical testing of soft biological tissues (uniaxial, biaxial,
flexure) is 350 sq. ft.
Mechanical testing specialty devices
are:
a) MTS Tytron™ 250 MicroForce
Testing System for high speed uniaxial testing
b) New
computer-controlled, high speed, biaxial testing device
capable of load and strain control and stress relaxation
testing of very small tissue specimens, including in-plane
shear
c) Custom built three-point bending device for flexural
testing of very small compliant biomaterials
d) Flexural testing device using a
high resolution camera to image transmural strain
e) Sub-miniature uniaxial tissue testing device that can
perform flexure stress-relaxation studies
Cell Culture Lab
The Cell Culture Lab is 209 sq. ft. equipped
with standard cell and tissue culture necessities: two laminar
flow hoods, four incubators, and sterilization equipment (autoclave
and EtO), multiple freezers (-20 and -80) for tissue storage
and a millipore water sterilization system.
Computational Lab
For modeling and device design, there is a 267
sq. ft. computational laboratory. An HP unix-based workstation
for Finite Element Analysis (ABAQUS), twenty pentium PC computers
(processors above 800MHz), which are loaded with extensive
design, word processing, and general numerical and image analysis
software. Also, custom image analysis software for tissue
quantification (histology).
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