Chad Eckert
Research Summary
The heart represents an intricate mechanical pumping system with complicated functional and structural features, resulting in significant rheological and biological implications. Blood is a delicate non-Newtonian multiphase suspension of red blood cells, white blood cells, and platelets in a chemically complex continuous medium. These crucial cells, particularly the oxygen-carrying erythrocytes, are exceptionally delicate. Blood must be sufficiently pressurized by the heart to profuse every tissue and organ of the body for sustenance of life, while cellular integrity is maintained as it passes through the “pump.” Heart valves play an integral role in the pressurization and subsequent distribution of blood throughout the body by regulating the directionality of flow to maintain sufficient efficiency of the heart.
Viable heart and valve tissues are germane to the proper and long-term durability of the heart. They scar easily, and such scar tissue can create regions of compromised material elasticity and integrity. These tissues must be strong enough to withstand 80 to 150 mm Hg pressure while sufficiently pliable to deform on an average of 70 times per minute. The heart, therefore, poses many significant design and materials challenges to researchers attempting to repair or replace it.
As a consequence of four year materials science engineering undergraduate program, I have had a dramatic escalation of passion to further understand materials with a specific focus of interest in biomaterial cardiac applications. The confluence of engineering and the health sciences appears to promise great advances in our understanding of both materials and the human body. It has incredibly fascinating implications, and makes exceptional contributions to the quality of life. Currently, my main interests rest in valve-blood fluid flow modeling, valve mechanic constitutive modeling, and biodegradable synthetic scaffolding for valve seeding and regeneration. I believe that a methodical approach to these severe materials limitations is rooted in accurately describing and predicting physiological mechanical responses via descriptive modeling.