Our Research O U R   M I S S I O N : The objective of our research is to understand the mechanistic aspects of progressive development of osteoarthritis from the engineering point of view. The results of this research will help improve our understanding of the degenerative joint disease (DJD) and find ways of preventing the onset of the disease. To this end, we utilize the various engineering tools, such as the mathematical principles of mechanics, computational mechanics, and experimental mechanics, in conjuction with biological methods used in tissue and cell culture researches. One of the primary specific aims of our research is to study the biomechanics of normal and pathological cartilage tissues as well as the functional evaluation of the repaired and healing cartilage. In the TCL, similar interdisciplinary approaches of engineering and biology are also applied to studies of various musculoskeletal soft tissues, such as tendons, ligaments, and intervertebral disc. The specific current research projects include: Mathematical and Computational Modeling for Articular Cartilage Development of Ultrasound Arthroscopic Probe for Articular Cartilage Effect of Mechanical Forces on the Metabolic Response of Articular Cartilage Tissue Engineering of Articular Cartilage We also investigate the following non-cartilage projects: Mechanical Regulation of Periosteal Differentiation Computational Analysis of Traumatic Brain Injury Biomechanics of Optic Nerve Head and Peripapillary Sclera The TCL is equipped with several custom-built apparatus and data-acquisitions instruments to measure the biomechanical properties of cartilage tissues; they include confined compression, unconfined compression, indentation, and torsion test devices, and an ultrasound indentation device for cartilage testing. The TCL also has the basic cell/tissue culture system, including a bio-safety cabinet, a Sanyo tissue culture incubator, a centrifuge, and etc, and a Spectrometer for ELISA assay. The TCL also has a video-imaging system consisting of a high resolution digital camera and a high performance Olympus microscope, which is designed to measure the deformation of soft tissue with a great accuracy. The TCL computer system includes a PowerMac G5 workstation computer with dual processors and five PCs, all connected to the internet through the high speed Tulane network. Every cartiligian working in the TCL has an access to various supercomputers and servers to workstations at the Center for Computational Science at Tulane University. Have Any Questions or Comments? Send Them to Dr. J-K Francis Suh Please Report Any Page Errors to the Webmaster