Name:	Steven D. Abramowitch, Ph.D.
Title:	Assistant Professor, Departments of Bioengineering and Obstetrics, Gynecology, and Reproductive Sciences

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Professional Summary:
Dr. Abramowitch joined the MSRC family in 1999 as a graduate student. He received his B.S. (1998) in Applied Mathematics and Ph.D. (2004) in Bioengineering from the University of Pittsburgh. Currently, he is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Bioengineering and serves as the Co-Associate Director of the MSRC and Director of the Tissue Mechanics laboratory. In addition, Dr. Abramowitch holds a secondary appointment in the Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology, and Reproductive Sciences. In 2008, Dr. Abramowitch was awarded a Building Interdisciplinary Research Careers in Womens Health (BIRCWH) fellowship. The main focus of Dr. Abramowitch's research is understanding the impact of pregnancy, delivery, and other life events (aging, menopause, etc.) on the structural integrity of the pelvic floor in women.

The primary goals of the Tissue Mechanics laboratory are to 1) rigorously characterize normal, healing, and diseased soft connective tissues, 2) develop robust models that describe tissue function, 3) teach students and clinical fellows to conduct proper mechanical testing experiments and analysis.

Educational Background:
Ph.D. Bioengineering, University of Pittsburgh 2004
B.S. Applied Mathematics, University of Pittsburgh 1998

Tissue Mechanics Laboratory, Director

Musculoskeletal Research Center
405 Center for Bioengineering
300 Technology Drive
Pittsburgh, PA 15219
Telephone: 412-648-1638
Fax: 412-648-2001
sdast9@pitt.edu

• Functional tissue engineering techniques involving the use of soft tissues scaffolds
• Understanding tissue composition and how that relates to structure and function
• Modeling the nonlinear viscoelastic properties of biological tissues

1. Woo, S.L-Y., Almarza, A.J., Karaoglu, S., and Abramowitch, S.D.: Functional Tissues Engineering of Ligament and Tendon Injuries, to appear in Principles of Regenerative Medicine. Ed. A. Atala , R. Lanza, J.A. Thomson, R.M. Nerem. Elsevier, Inc., Burlington, 71: 1206-1231, 2008.

2. Woo, S.L-Y., Lee, T.Q., Abramowitch, S.D., and Gilbert, T.: Structure and Function of Ligaments and Tendons, in Basic Orthopaedic Biomechanics and Mechanobiology (3rd Edition). Ed. V.C. Mow & W.C Hayes. Lippincott Williams & Wilkins Publishing, Philadelphia, 7:301-342, 2005.

3. Woo, S.L-Y., Abramowitch, S.D., Loh, J.C., Musahl, V. and Wang, J.H-C.: Ligament Healing: Present Status and the Future of Functional Tissue Engineering, in Functional Tissue Engineering. Ed. F. Guilak, D. Butler, S. Goldstein, D. Mooney. Springer-Verlag Publishing, New York, 2:17-34,2003.

4. Magnusson, P., Takala, T., Abramowitch, S.D., Loh, J.C., Woo, S.L-Y.: Connective Tissue in Ligaments: Physiology and Repair, and Musculoskeletal Flexibility, in Textbook of Sports Medicine. Eds. M. Kjaer, M. Krogsgaard, P. Magnusson, L. Engebretsen, H. Roos, T. Takala and S.L-Y. Woo, Blackwell Publishing, Oxford, United Kingdom, 1.6:134-156, 2002.

5. Woo, S.L-Y., Debski, R.E., Zeminski, J., Abramowitch, S.D., Chan Saw, S.S. and Fenwick, J.: Injury and Repair of Ligaments and Tendons, in Annual Review of Biomedical Engineering. 2:83-118, 2000.



1. Nguyen, T., Liang, R., Woo, S.L-Y., Burton, S., Wu, C., Almarza, A., Sacks, M., Abramowitch, S.D.: Effects of Cell-seeding and Cyclic Stretch on the Fiber Remodeling in an Extracellular Matrix Derived Bioscaffold. Tissue Engineering, In Revision, May 2008.

2. Almarza, A., Yang, G., Woo, S.L-Y., Nguyen, T., Abramowitch, S.D.: Positive Changes of Bone Marrow Derived Cells in Response to Culture on an Aligned Bioscaffold. Tissue Engineering - Part A, 14 (9): 1489-1495.

3. Moalli, P.A., Debes, K., Meyn, L., Howden, N., Abramowitch, S.D.: Hormones Restore Biomechanical Properties of the Vagina and Supportive Tissues After Surgical Menopause in Young Rats. American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology, 199 (2): 161.e1-161.e8, 2008.

4. Alperin, M., Debes, K., Abramowitch, S.D., Meyn, L., Moalli, P.: LOXL1 Deficiency Negatively Impacts the Biomechanical Properties of the Mouse Vagina and Supportive Tissues. International Urogynecology Journal, 19 (7): 977-986, 2008.

5. Moalli, P., Papas, N., Menefee, S., Albo, M., Meyn, L., Abramowitch, S.D.: Tensile Properties of Six Commonly Used Mid-Urethral Slings. International Urogynecology Journal, 19(5): 655-63, 2008.

6. Karaoglu, S., Fisher, M.B., Woo, S.L-Y., Fu, Y.C., Liang, R., Abramowitch, S.D.: Use of a Bioscaffold to Improve Healing of a Patellar Tendon Defect After Graft Harvest for ACL Reconstruction: A Study in Rabbits. Journal of Orthopaedic Research, 26(2): 255-63, 2008.

7. Zhang, X., Fisher, M., Woo, S.L-Y., Jiang, G., Abramowitch, S.D.: The Assumption of a Negligible Preload on the Determination of Viscoelastic Properties Based on the Quasi-linear Viscoelastic (QLV) Theory (Short Paper). Complex Medical Engineering (IEEE), 10.1109/ICCME.2007.4382020, 1617-1620, 2007.

8. Lowder, J.L., Moon, D.K., Debes, K.M., Howden, N.S., Abramowitch, S.D., Moalli, P.A.: The Impact of Pregnancy, Delivery and Recovery on the Biomechanical Properties of the Vagina and Supportive Tissues in a Rat Model. Obstetrics and Gynecology, 109: 136-143, 2007.

9. Liang, R.,Woo, S.L-Y., Takakura, Y., Moon, D.K., Jia, F., Abramowitch, S.D.: The Long Term Effects of Porcine Small Intestine Submucosa on the Healing of Medial Collateral Ligament: A Functional Tissue Engineering Study. Journal of Orthopaedic Research, 24(4): 811-819, 2006.

10. Moalli, P.A., Howden, N.S., Navarro, J., Debes, K.M., Abramowitch, S.D., and Woo, S.L-Y.: A Rat Model to Study the Structural Properties of the Vagina and its Supportive Tissues. American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology, 192(1): 80-88, 2005.

11. Abramowitch, S.D., Woo, S.L-Y., Clineff, T.D., and Debski, R.E.: An Evaluation of the Quasi-linear Viscoelastic Properties of the Healing Medial Collateral Ligament in a Goat Model. Annals of Biomedical Engineering, 32(3): 329-335, 2004.

12. Abramowitch, S.D. and Woo, S.L-Y.: An Improved Method to Analyze the Stress Relaxation of Ligaments Following a Finite Ramp Time Based on the Quasi-Linear Viscoelastic Theory. Journal of Biomechanical Engineering, 126(1): 92-97, 2004.

13. Abramowitch, S.D., Yagi, M., Tsuda E., and Woo, S.L-Y.: The Healing Medial Collateral Ligament Following a Combined Anterior Cruciate and Medial Collateral Ligament Injury- A Biomechanical Study in a Goat Model. Journal of Orthopaedic Research, 21(6): 1124-1130, 2003.

14. Abramowitch, S.D., Papageorgiou, C.D., Debski R.E., Clineff, T.D. and Woo, S.L-Y.: A Biomechanical and Histological Evaluation of the Structure and Function of the Healing Medial Collateral Ligament in a Goat Model. Knee Surgery, Sports Traumatology, Arthroscopy, 11:155-162, 2003.

15. Abramowitch, S.D., Papageorgiou, C.D., Withrow, J.D., Gilbert, T.W. and Woo, S.L-Y.: The Effect of Initial Graft Tension on the Biomechanical Properties of a Healing ACL Replacement Graft: A Study in Goats. Journal of Orthopaedic Research, 21(4): 708-715, 2003.


Personal Information: Married (wife-Sarah) with dog (Nikita) and cat (Treble)

Hobbies/Sports: Pitt Football, Tinkering with anything electronic, Candy, Music, Animals

Home Country: USA