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






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

MSRC Research Group:
Tissue Mechanics Laboratory, Director

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

Research Interests:
  • 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
Publications:

Published Book Chapters
  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.


Selected Refereed Journal Articles
  1. Feola, A.J., Duerr, R., Moalli, P., Abramowitch, S.D. Changes in the Rheological Behavior of the Vagina in Women with Pelvic Organ Prolapse. Int Urogynecol J Pelvic Floor Dysfunct., Epub. Dec 2012.

  2. Feola, A.J., Barone, W., Moalli, P., Abramowitch, S.D. Characterizing the Ex vivo Textile and Structural Properties of Synthetic Prolapse Meshes. Int Urogynecol J Pelvic Floor Dysfunct., Epub. Aug 2012.

  3. Feola, A.J., Abramowitch, S.D., Jallah, Z., Stein, S., Moalli, P.A. Deterioration in Biomechanical Properties of the Vagina Following Implantation of a High-Stiffness Prolapse Mesh. British Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology, In Press. October 2012.

  4. Shepherd, J.P., Feola, A.J., Abramowitch, S.D., Moalli, P. Uniaxial Biomechanical Properties of Seven Different Vaginally Implanted Meshes for Pelvic Organ Prolapse. Int Urogynecol J Pelvic Floor Dysfunct., 23(5), pp. 613-20, 2012.

  5. Barone, W., Feola, A., Moalli, P., Abramowitch, S.D., The Effect of Pregnancy and Postpartum Recovery on the Viscoelastic Behavior of the Rat Cervix. Journal of Mechanics in Medicine and Biology, Epub, March 2012.

  6. Feola, A.J., Moalli, P.M., Alperin, M., Duerr, R., Gandley, R.E., Abramowitch, S.D. Impact of Pregnancy and Vaginal Delivery on the Passive and Active Mechanics of the Rat Vagina. Annals of Biomedical Engineering, 39(1), 549-58, 2010.

  7. Feola, A.J., Abramowitch, S.D., Jones, K., Stein, S., Moalli, P. Parity Negatively Impacts Vaginal Mechanical Properties and Collagen Structure in the Rhesus Macaque. American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology, 203(6), 595.e1-8, 2010.

  8. Zong, W., Jallah, Z., Stein, S., Abramowitch, S.D., and Moalli, P.A. Repetitive Mechanical Stretch Increases Extracellular Collagenase Activity in Vaginal Fibroblasts. Female Pelvic Med Reconstr Surg, 16(5), pp. 257-262, 2010.

  9. Krishna, P., Regner, M., Palko, J., Liu, F., Abramowitch, S., Jiang, J., Wells, A.: The Effects of Decorin and HGF-primed Vocal Fold Fibroblasts In Vitro and Ex Vivo in a Porcine Model of Vocal Fold Scarring. Laryngoscope, 120(11), pp. 2247-57, 2010.

  10. Alperin, M., Feola, A., Duerr, R., Moalli, P., Abramowitch, S.: Pregnancy- and delivery-induced biomechanical changes in rat vagina persist postpartum. Int Urogynecol J Pelvic Floor Dysfunct., 21(9), pp. 1169-74, 2010.

  11. Alperin, M., Feola, A.J., Meyn, L., Duerr, R., Abramowitch, S.D., Moalli, P. Collagen Scaffold: A Treatment for a Simulated Maternal Birth Injury in the Rat Model. American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology, 202(6), pp. 589.e1-8, 2010.

  12. Abramowitch, S., Zhang, X., Curran, M., Kilger, R.: A Comparison of the Quasi-static Mechanical and Nonlinear Viscoelastic Properties of the Human Semitendinosus and Gracilis Tendons. Clincal Biomechanics, 25(4), pp. 325-31, 2010.

  13. Jones, K., Feola, A., Meyn, L., Abramowitch, S.D., Moalli, P.A.: Tensile Properties of Commonly Used Prolapse Meshes. International Urology Journal, 20(7), pp. 847-53, 2009.

  14. 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 Eng Part A. 15(4), pp. 957-63, 2009.

  15. Abramowitch, S.D., Feola, A., Jallah, Z., Moalli, P.A.: Tissue mechanics, animal models, and pelvic organ prolapse: A review (Review Article). European Journal of Obstetrics Gynecology and Reproductive Biology, Volume 144, Supplement 1, pp. S146-S158, 2009.


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