Research projects
I study how changes in the vascular matrix alter tissue strength, and how those changes can be measured and predicted. These projects connect matrix degradation, spatial modeling, image-based biomechanics, and cell-regulated remodeling.
How does matrix loss weaken the aorta?
Matrix loss changes both how much tissue can bear load and where deformation accumulates. My experimental work links proteolytic changes in aortic density with stiffness and tensile strength. Follow-up fiber-network models calibrated to bulk density investigate how spatially uneven matrix loss creates local weak regions.
Together, these studies connect a measurable tissue property with the architecture that distributes mechanical demand and determines strength.
The animation shows a density-based fiber-network model used to study the mechanical consequences of matrix loss.
Density, stiffness, and strength · 2024
Local weakness and aortic failure · 2026
How do we compare aneurysm mechanics consistently?
Image-based measurements depend on how the aneurysm is defined. In collaborative work, I helped develop an objective and repeatable way to isolate the aneurysm sac, allowing geometric and biomechanical metrics to be compared consistently.
Aneurysm sac isolation gives downstream biomechanical analysis a consistent anatomical region of interest. The animation pairs the geometric definition with the resulting vascular model.
Can image-based mechanics inform prediction?
I combine vascular modeling and machine learning to make biomechanical information more accessible to clinical research. Published collaborative work spans rapid aortic wall-stress assessment and outcome classification using clinical, geometric, and biomechanical information.
Anatomical segmentation, illustrated here, provides the vessel geometry for patient-specific analysis. These tools support a longer-term goal: efficient predictions that remain connected to the mechanics of the tissue.
Rapid biomechanical assessment · 2025
Aneurysm outcome classification · 2024
Connecting cellular regulation to vascular integrity
My current research asks how vascular cells change the matrix that carries mechanical load. Spatial molecular characterization, matrix biochemistry, imaging under load, and tissue mechanics provide complementary views of how altered cell regulation becomes a vulnerable wall.
The modeling direction couples cell-signaling networks with constrained-mixture models of growth and remodeling, with AI-based surrogates to explore how perturbations change tissue state over time.
The objective is to predict changes in mechanical function from the biology and structure that produce them.
