BME BREAKS: Christopher J. Hernandez, PhD, Cornell University

BME Breaks - Weekly lecture series from leaders in biomedical engineering - Fridays 12PM EDT
Monday, June 22, 2020
12:00 PM - 1:00 PM
Online Event
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NOTE DATE CHANGE: On Monday, June 22nd @ 12:00PM EDT, we welcome Dr. Christopher Hernandez from Cornell University as he presents, "New insights in bone fragility and mechanobiology of bacteria."

ABOUT THE JUNE 22 WEBINAR

New Insights in Bone Fragility and Mechanobiology of Bacteria

My laboratory studies the relationship between form and mechanical function in biological materials and the response of living tissues to mechanical stimuli. Here I discuss recent from my laboratory examining the effects of microstructure on mechanical failure in cancellous bone and recent investigations studying the response of individual bacteria to mechanical stress and strain.

Impaired microstructure of trabecular bone is the hallmark of osteoporosis. Although impaired microarchitecture has long been recognized as a contributor to bone fragility, biomechanical studies over the past 20 years have repeatedly found that bone strength is dominated by density and that with measures of microstructure have only a small contribution to strength. Here we use detailed characterization of damage accumulation in cancellous bone during cyclic loading to reveal an unexpected finding – structural elements oriented transverse to loading, which are small and have negligible effects on axial strength have a substantial effect on fatigue failure of cancellous bone. We confirm our findings using physical models generated through additive manufacturing and show that our findings are not only relevant to osteoporosis but also to synthetic microstructures in traditional engineering materials.

Additionally, I introduce a new line of investigation in my laboratory that extends the field of cell biomechanics into prokaryotic organisms. Bacteria are the workhorses of biotechnology and the merging field of synthetic biology. Here we use a novel microfluidic platform with nanoscale features to capture and mechanically load individual bacteria. We use super-resolution microscopy to track the motion of cell membrane proteins to measure the physiologic responses to mechanical stress and strain. Our findings demonstrate that bacteria, like mammalian cells, have mechanosensitive systems that influences fundamental processes for the resistance of toxins and antibiotics.

ABOUT THE SPEAKER

Christopher J. Hernandez, Ph.D., Professor
Sibley School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Meinig School of Biomedical Engineering, Cornell University; Adjunct Scientist, Hospital for Special Surgery

Dr. Hernandez is a Professor in the Sibley School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering and the Meinig School of Biomedical Engineering at Cornell University and an Adjunct Scientist at the Hospital for Special Surgery in New York City. Dr. Hernandez is Fellow of the AIMBE, the ASME and the ASBMR. He is a recipient of the Harold M. Frost Young Investigator Award (American Society for Bone and Mineral Research), the Zellman Warhaft Faculty Award for Commitment to Diversity (Cornell University) and the 2018 recipient of the Fuller Albright Award for scientific excellence (American Society for Bone and Mineral Research).

ABOUT BME BREAKS

Take a break and join us every Friday at 12:00PM EDT for BME Breaks, a weekly online lecture series from global leaders in biomedical engineering research, brought to you by the Department of Biomedical Engineering at Columbia University.

June 26 – Tal Danino, PhD, Columbia University BME
“Engineering bacteria for cancer therapy”

July 10 - Simone Schürle-Finke, PhD, ETH Zurich
“Engineering micro- and nanorobots for medicine”

July 17 - Gordana Vunjak-Novakovic, PhD, Columbia University BME
“Engineering human tissues for medical impact”

July 24 - Rong Gan, PhD, University of Oklahoma
“Measurement and modeling of blast-induced auditory injury in animal model of chinchilla”
RSVP at the link above!
Event Contact Information:
Alexis Newman
[email protected]
LOCATION:
  • Online
TYPE:
  • Lecture
  • Seminar
  • Webcast
CATEGORY:
  • Engineering
  • Research
EVENTS OPEN TO:
  • Alumni
  • Faculty
  • Family-friendly
  • Graduate Students
  • Postdocs
  • Prospective Students
  • Public
  • Staff
  • Students
  • Trainees
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