Professor Michael Sacks has been selected by the ASME Executive Committee of the Bioengineering Division to be the next Technical Editor of the Journal of Biomechanical Engineering, starting from July 1, 2007, for a five-year term.
The McGowan Institute offers our heartiest congratulations to Professor Sacks for this outstanding accomplishment which is in recognition of his international leadership in biomechanics research and education.
The Journal of Biomechanical Engineering reports research results involving the application of mechanical engineering knowledge, skills and principles to the conception, design, development, analysis, and operation of biomechanical systems, including: artificial organs and prostheses; bioinstrumentation and measurements; bio-heat transfer; biomaterials; biomechanics; bioprocess engineering; cellular mechanics; design and control of biological systems; and physiological systems.
Professor Sacks' research focus is quantification and modeling of the structure-mechanical properties of native and engineered soft tissues, with a focus on tissues of the cardiovascular and urological systems. In particular, his laboratory has focused on the mechanical behavior and function of the native aortic and mitral heart valves, including the development of the first constitutive (stress-strain) models for these tissues using a structural approach.
The Sacks laboratory is also active in the biomechanics of engineered tissues, and in particular understanding the in-vitro and in-vivo remodeling processes from a functional biomechanical perspective. To acquire the necessary critical experimental data, his laboratory has developed several novel methods to quantify tissue structure and multi-axial mechanical testing techniques. By integrating the resulting experimental data obtained from both techniques, the Sacks lab has developed structural constitutive (stress-strain) models that directly integrate information on tissue composition and structure. These models avoid ambiguities in material characterization, offering insight into the function, structure, and mechanics of tissue components.
More recent work includes multi-scale studies of cell/tissue/organ mechanical interactions in heart valves. I am particularly interested in determining the local stress environment for heart valve interstitial cells. Next, we are currently utilizing an integrated experimental/multi-scale finite element approach to determine how hemodynamic loading on the valve translates to altered stress states on the valve interstitial cell function and, in-turn, changes in local extra-cellular structure/composition and valve function.